


The Case of Cherry and Peter

by seungjin_chan



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Police, Fluff, Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Romance, Setting - America, happy birthday september bbs!! ♡, i can still remember when i thought this would be 8k words max, please note that it's rated M, the english line's all here yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-18 11:46:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20638643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seungjin_chan/pseuds/seungjin_chan
Summary: Jisung can admit that he gets easily infatuated, but he's proud to say that he gets over it as quickly as it comes—three days tops. He likes to think of it as a pretty great feat, because as most people say: cops can't date, even if they wanted to.Then Seungmin transfers into their precinct.Four months later, Jisung still hasn't gotten out of the rabbit hole he fell into.





	The Case of Cherry and Peter

**Author's Note:**

> **please read the following before proceeding:**
> 
> 1\. this work contains **one smut scene.** you may choose to skip past through it by looking out for the cherry symbol (🍒), which i put before and after the scene! ♡ 
> 
> 2\. this is highly inspired by **brooklyn nine nine.** a lot of this will be familiar (especially since i pretty much have no idea how police departments work hahahdsd). for those who don't know it, no worries—you can still read it! for those who do, i hope it's not disappointing _c ries_ <strike>i've been working on this since july ㅠ</strike>
> 
> i'm posting this when i'm supposed to be sleeping yet again and i hope there aren't any mistakes that my sleep-deprived self missed sjdhjf but anyway, enjoy!! ♡
> 
> [191110] my friend [c](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chanskittenmin) edited a lil video for this fic [here](https://twitter.com/chanskittenmin/status/1193429067040788480?s=19)!

If Jisung sees himself as a friendly, warm-hearted and overall soft kind of person (heaven knows how on Earth he got through police academy at all), then Seungmin is the complete opposite.

He could tell that from the very first moment he saw him—his dark, smoky eyeliner; the red hair; the matching red necktie over a black dress shirt, paired with black slacks; a pair of black boots with _heels;_ and he was literally glaring at everybody as he introduced himself. If someone was watching from the outside, they might have thought he was threatening the whole precinct.

In one way or another, that's always how he dresses himself—and he _acts_ it.

And while Jisung has jet black hair, always wears slate grey contact lenses that makes him look like a villain (clear lenses are for people who don't accidentally drop them everytime), and doesn't really have the appearance of someone who genuinely enjoys watching My Little Pony, he's still a human who cries over a fictional pony's parents' tragic love story.

The first time he saw Seungmin smile at all was only two months after he transferred, when he saw Captain Wang accidentally spill hot coffee all over his pants—and even then, it looked less like a smile and more like a smirk.

Jisung also learned just how violent Seungmin could be.

Once, they had to lock him up in a room to keep him from strangling the truth out of a stubborn perp, and two seconds later, he had a fist through the door's window frame, shattering the glass into pieces and enabling him to turn the knob on the outside to free himself.

If it's considered weird to find his intimidating aura tremendously attractive, then Jisung is, indeed, weird.

Nevertheless, Seungmin takes his job seriously and Jisung can see that he strives to be the best, just like everyone else.

If he wasn't impressed by how quickly he's made a place for himself in the precinct in a span of a few weeks, Jisung would have been envious; it took him a while longer to really get to be a part of the circle, and he's already so _friendly._ Meanwhile, all Seungmin did was do his job right and be really _great_ at it, and he's already earned everyone's respect without having to talk to anyone.

Scratch that. Jisung _was_ envious in the beginning. Seungmin is nearly everything he's ever wanted to be as a cop, while he had to put in three times as much effort to get anywhere near the redhead's skills.

It took a whole month before he realized his envy had been turning into a full-on crush, in which he told himself it's probably just a slightly longer duration of infatuation than usual and that it'd disappear sooner or later.

Screw it.

"So hey," Felix slides himself over in his office chair towards Jisung's desk, a case file in hand, shooting him a grin. "I think I'm gonna work on a cold case today."

"Oh yeah? Did you find a new lead?" Jisung looks up from his computer screen in interest, taking the folder from the other male and flipping it open.

"No, but it would mean _a lot_ to me if you could help me out—"

Jisung shuts the folder closed and hands it back. "Felix, go work on your real cases."

"But this _is_ a real case! It's the most important case I've ever had in my entire career!" Felix exclaims, opening the folder again and facing it towards Jisung as he points at its contents—which were basically just printed, stolen shots of him and of Seungmin pasted beside each other. "Look, I've made it so glittery and full of stickers too! I am dead serious about this."

"Why do you even call it a cold case? He transferred here just four months ago."

"What you guys talking about?" Chan slides over in his chair too, taking a look at the folder. "Oh hey! I made one like that too!" he cheers, sharing a highfive with Felix before curiously poking at a glitter-glue part as he adds, "Just not that glittery."

"I have one too!" Hyunjin hollers from his own desk, waving around a folder in the air proudly. Chan and Felix then give him finger-guns with mischievous grins, which he returns just as dorkily.

"You're not a cop," Jisung points out.

"Yes, I am but a lowly civilian in this drab old precinct, Peter," Hyunjin nods, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly when Jisung shouts _'it's Jisung!'_. "But that doesn't matter, it's not a real case so I can have a case file of the same thing too."

Jisung turns back to Chan and Felix. "See? Not a real case. Now hide that thing, before—"

"What's that?"

He swiftly spins his chair around and sees Seungmin on his way back from the restroom, stopping by Jisung's desk and eyeing the folder in Felix's hand.

Screw his attractive hair and his attractive voice and his attractive existence.

"That's a terrible photo," is all Seungmin says before he yanks it out of Felix's grasp and tosses it into the trash bin, making his way back to his own desk. Jisung briefly wonders which photo Seungmin was referring to.

"Oh well," Felix shrugs. "I had a feeling this could happen, so I have like, ten more of those."

"Or... you could just pick it back up from the _empty_ and significantly still clean trash bin," Chan suggests, but Felix shakes his head and mumbles something about having dignity.

"Look," Felix turns back to Jisung, plastering on his serious face as he starts speaking more quietly. "We don't need the best detective in town—me, I'm talking about myself—to figure out how much you like Cherry. Even Sam knows about it! And we know for a fact that Cherry likes you too, so all we really want to know is why, oh _why_ are you two not dating yet."

"Fine. I like him," Jisung crosses his arms, shaking his head to himself as Chan and Felix share another victorious highfive at his confession. "But for the last time, guys, he does not like me. All you did was come up to him and ask 'hey do you like Peter?' and he said 'yeah,'" he snorts. "He could have said that about any detective with the right mind in this precinct."

"Hey Cherry!" Chan calls out suddenly, spinning around to face Seungmin at his desk across the office. "Do you like Brian?"

Seungmin doesn't even look up as he answers without hesitation. "No."

"Do you like Jae?"

"No."

"Do you like Peter?"

To Jisung's mild surprise, Seungmin briefly glances up at Chan before turning his attention back to his paperwork. "Yes."

Chan and Felix simultaneously turn to him with shit-eating grins.

"That doesn't mean anything," he says weakly in defense, despite already having a silent mental breakdown by himself at what he just witnessed.

"Okay then, Peter," Felix puts his game face on this time, and he instantly gets a bad feeling in his gut. "Challenge accepted. As great detectives, Christopher and I are going to prove to you just how _wrong_ you are."

"I want in too!" Hyunjin raises a hand enthusiastically, and Chan gives it an approving highfive on his way back to his own desk.

Jisung doesn't get to say anything back anymore, because that's when Captain Wang knowingly marches out of his office and tells them to get back to work.

"I haven't had real Asian food in forever; thank you, Sam's mom, for this glorious feast," Chan dramatically sobs into his _kimbap,_ standing back up from his seat to reach across the long table for some spicy rice cakes.

"No problem at all," Mrs. Hwang chuckles, helping him with the food and placing some on his plate. "Thank _you_ to all of you for coming to my birthday! I was almost sure I was going to have to cancel because I didn't think Hyunjin would get to invite this many friends over."

Everyone except Jisung and Hyunjin stops whatever they were doing, and looks up at Mrs. Hwang. "Who?"

Hyunjin palms his face, and Jisung speaks up for him instead. "It's Sam, you idiots."

Mrs. Hwang just laughs it off, then takes a glance around the table before taking the bowl of rice, which was already emptying. "I'm gonna go and get us more."

"No," Seungmin suddenly stands up from his seat and takes it instead, immediately making his way to the kitchen, looking a bit bothered. "I'll go get it."

At that, Jisung finds himself standing up as well in concern, excusing himself and ignoring the grins on everyone's faces as he quickly follows after the redhead.

"Hey," he breathes out upon reaching Seungmin standing by the counter near the rice cooker, offering him a small smile. "You okay?"

"It was too delightful in there. I need a breather," Seungmin mumbles, takes a deep breath, and lifts the lid off the rice cooker. "Time to head back."

"Oh. That was _one_ quick breather."

"Christopher's going to complain if I take too long. It's like he hasn't eaten rice in ages," Seungmin pauses mid-scoop. "I actually don't know how much rice I'm supposed to take."

"Sam said to take as much as you like Peter!" they hear Felix happily yelling from the dining room, and Jisung lets out a sigh.

"These morons have ears everywhere. Ignore them, Cherry. They're just—..." he trails off, blinking owlishly as he watches Seungmin put the lid back on. "Cherry?"

And, to his utter shock, Seungmin unplugs the rice cooker before carrying it out to the dining room with him.

"I—wait, Cherry, you know you're not supposed to—okay he brought the whole thing," he blinks to himself in disbelief for a moment, and makes his way back as well. "Okay. Wow."

"What. is. your. name," Felix asks the teenager at his desk for the fourth time, his patience already slipping out of his voice as he glares at the kid, who only continues to give him celebrity names. "Fucking tell me already so I can go to my friend and annoy the hell out of him, you son of a bitch!"

And while Felix continues to process 'Zac Efron,' it's Chan who goes to Jisung instead, shooting him a cocky grin as he seats himself on the desk. "Well, looks like Felix is gonna be there a while; I'll do the honour of annoying you first. Sooo," he sings, "we'd like you to announce to the whole precinct that Felix, Sam and I were right all along and you are a stupid detective who can't figure out something as trivial as—"

"Christopher," Jisung halts him with a roll of his eyes, crossing his arms as he leans back in his chair. "What he did last night was clearly just because he didn't have any idea how much he was supposed to take. You guys are reading too much into this."

Chan gives him a deadpan look before standing up and motioning him over to follow him.

He's brought into the break room, where they see Seungmin napping on the couch and Hyunjin crouched down by the floor, giggling while filming the sleep-talking redhead on his phone. (Jisung tries his best to ignore how cute it is that Seungmin says _'LAPD, freeze'_ in his sleep.)

"Hey Sam," Chan greets, taking a seat by the table. "I brought Peter along."

"Hey," Hyunjin grins widely at the blonde, then at him, before raising his brows. "Ah. It's finally come to this, huh? Damn, how dense could you possibly be, Peter?" he raises a finger just before Jisung opens his mouth to protest, waving it around while shaking his head. "Just watch and learn."

Hyunjin then refocuses his camera at Seungmin's face, and asks, "Hey Cherry, I really like you. How about a date?"

"I don't like you..." Seungmin slurs, stirring a little and pulling the Sergeant's blanket closer to his chest. Jisung briefly thinks about placing his own blanket there someday, before the redhead continues to grumble in his sleep. "I like Peter."

Jisung's jaws drop just as Hyunjin points the camera at him with a victorious smile.

"Seriously, Peter?" Felix gapes at him, shaking his head to himself and running a hand down his face in distress. "You are the dumbest detective I've ever met. You are _impossible._"

"He was sleep-talking!" Jisung argues without looking up from his computer screen, continuing to type out his report. "It could have been a mistake. Could have been a different Peter, even! There are a lot of Peters in the world."

"Oh, for Peter's sake," Felix huffs. "Just when we all think it's finally gotten in your head, you come up with a whole new lame excuse to tell us we're wrong after a couple of days. Get your ass up from there and come with me."

When he doesn't attempt to move at all, Felix grabs his arm and drags him out of his desk, towards the copy room where Seungmin is currently waiting for his copies to finish printing. Felix shoots him a mischievous grin, and Jisung internally panics as they arrive inside.

"Cherry! Can I ask you something in the presence of Peter?"

Seungmin turns to them, looking uninterested. "You just did."

Jisung stifles a snort while Felix shoots him a glare before turning back to Seungmin. "I'm going to ask you another one anyway. Do you happen to like anyone at the moment?"

"Yeah."

"As in, romantically and sexually attracted to someone kind of like?"

"That's another question, but yeah."

Felix brightens up significantly at that, but Jisung just stiffens, because Seungmin is romantically and sexually attracted to someone and it might not be him at all. "Have you confessed before?"

Seungmin gives it a thought. "I don't think so."

Felix grins impossibly wider. "I really think you should confess."

"Fine," Seungmin answers easily, to their surprise, then he looks Jisung in the eyes with his ever piercing gaze and says: "I like you."

"Attention everyone," Jisung speaks up in the middle of the office, later that day, letting out a defeated sigh as he sees the shit-eating grins on his friends' faces. "Christopher, Felix and Sam were right all along about me being a dumb detective who can't figure shit out to save his life."

He just bows his head and thanks them all as they cheer and applaud him, but he doesn't miss the amused little smile on Seungmin's face as the redhead decides to clap along.

Jisung falls in love with that smile.

Chan, Felix and Hyunjin are waiting for him expectantly at his desk the very next morning, all of them holding what he suspects to be their own versions of their so-called cold case.

"Really, guys? I thought we were over this."

"No, Peter," Chan shakes his head, ignoring him when he dejectedly mumbles _'it's Jisung.'_ "That was only the first step to this case. Look closely here," he opens his folder, showing a neat list of _'Steps to Become Peter's Best Man at his Wedding with Cherry.'_

"Hey, I'm supposed to be his best man!" Felix frowns, and Chan just shrugs.

"Also, you're missing something," Hyunjin adds, opening his own folder with three times more steps than Chan's, while Felix quietly questions himself why he doesn't have any steps in his case file at all. "Clearly, they're going to have sex at some point."

"Anyway," Felix interrupts, pointing at the bottom of his own file, where there's a new addition that says _'GOAL: Cherry and Peter becomes a couple!!!'_ "This, Peter, is what we're trying to achieve here. Not just make you realize Cherry likes you. You're so dumb."

"Fortunately, Christopher and I had the same thoughts for step two," Hyunjin smiles, pointing at his and Chan's folders.

Jisung palms his face and drops himself into his seat.

_The Flirting Phase._

It's Seungmin who speaks up to him first later that day, when they're both using the copy machines and are alone together in the room.

"What are you doing tonight?" he asks him in his default monotonous voice, staring at Jisung with his resting bitch face that makes it look like he's glaring, and Jisung short-circuits.

"I... don't know," he answers awkwardly, gaze shifting from left to right and back at Seungmin. "What are _you_ doing tonight?"

"Nothing."

Nothing. That means he plans to do nothing, and he won't want to go out on a date even if Jisung asks him. Got it.

"Great," he nods lamely, pretending to do something with the buttons on the machine. "Smart. I'm sure you'll enjoy your night."

At that, Seungmin looks at him judgingly before picking up his copies and walking out the room as he mutters, "Why do I even like you."

Jisung then stares at the doorway like an idiot.

So he _was_ hoping for a date.

Jisung doesn't know if he's winning or losing—but he still is left just as shocked as he was from the confession yesterday.

Seungmin actually being attracted to him is just so surreal.

They're in the middle of arresting a thief together in the streets when his head comes up with an opening remark to flirt with Seungmin somehow, after seeing the redhead smirking while cuffing their guy as he states the Miranda Rights.

And so, as they make their way back to the car in silence, Jisung tells himself that there's no better time than the present and speaks up.

"Hey, Cherry," he catches Seungmin's attention, feeling his confidence lower significantly when the redhead looks at him in his default scowl-like expression with a sharp _'what.'_ "I, uh... I think you look pretty when you smile." Seungmin simply raises a brow at that, before Jisung adds, "You should smile more."

Seungmin stares at him for a while before he slows down to a stop when they reach the car. "No one tells me what to do."

"Ooh, ouch," the thief looks at him with a somewhat mocking, somewhat actually convincing sorry look, but stops when Seungmin whacks him over the head. "You have the right to remain _silent._"

"... Right," Jisung forces out a laugh, but the smile quickly disappears from his face anyway as he nods sadly, accepting the fact that Seungmin will probably stop liking him soon enough at this rate. Maybe Seungmin liked him better when he didn't try to do anything with him at all. "Okay."

But then, to his surprise, when he looks back up at Seungmin, he sees the redhead gazing at him with a fond smile.

"You're not very great at flirting, babe."

Jisung blinks dumbly for a moment, heat quickly rising to his cheeks at the sudden pet name. "Are you flirting with me right now?"

Their thief lets out a groan. "This is fucking painful to watch. Just turn me in already."

They're inside the interrogation room, and Jisung jerks a little from beside Seungmin when the latter slams his hands loudly on the table, startling their lead suspect and leaning towards the guy's face in a threatening manner.

"She stole all your songs, sold them and took all the credit for herself," Seungmin spits through gritted teeth, glowering down at the man. "You're practically a doormat and there is _no way_ she doesn't tell you to get her coffee and shit. Callahan, _you_ poisoned Watson."

"I told you, you got the wrong guy," says Callahan, for the sixth time. "Everyone else that worked for her has reasons to hate her."

And that was apparently the last straw for Seungmin, finally losing his patience before Jisung even gets the chance to speak up too. "You fucking son of a bitch, you _laughed_ like a maniac at her tombstone! You have a photo of her up on your wall that you throw knives at! You—" A sudden pause, and silence.

Both Jisung and Callahan are curiously looking up at Seungmin now, who, to Jisung's confusion, looks like he's trying hard to hold something in, before he opens his mouth again to proceed.

"You have—_hic_—a fucking document full of—_hic_—murder schemes saved on your laptop! _hic._"

Jisung's shocked for a moment, but soon enough he's slowly pressing his lips together in an attempt to hold back a grin, turning his head away to disguise his amused laugh with a cough.

"Peter, shut—_hic_—up."

"I can't help it!" Jisung covers his mouth, still struggling to stifle down his laughter. "You're just so cute right now."

Seungmin directs the glare at him now, scowling and looking offended, and Jisung quickly wipes the smile off his face. (Although, he starts to have a hard time trying not to smile again when Seungmin continues to hiccup adorably while staring him down.) "Sorry."

Seungmin half scoffs, half hiccups. Cute. "_You're_ the cute one. _hic._"

And he's walking out of the interrogation room.

Jisung blinks cluelessly at the door and wonders if that was a compliment or not.

"Gross," Callahan cringes, scrunching up his face. "I can't stand you Asian homos."

Jisung then looks back at him, raising his brows in interest before curving his lips up into a wicked grin. "But hey, you gotta admit, his hiccupping was so cute, wasn't it? Man, imagine if he did that in bed."

Callahan closes his eyes. "_Oh my God._ Please stop that right now."

"And like, with tears in his eyes. Dude, he'd be so damn hot. I can clearly picture it in my head. Imagine him spreading his legs wiiide open. Doesn't that turn you on? No? Alright, how about this! Imagine—"

"Okay, fine! I killed Watson! I put poison into her stupid juice and murdered her! Fucking shut up already!"

Jisung barks out a triumphant laugh, clapping his hands together.

_"Great job exploiting your sexual fantasies about Cherry, Peter,"_ he hears Chan snickering through the mic from the observation room, along with a laughing Felix in the background as well.

He turns around with narrowed eyes at the one-sided mirror, hoping wherever he's looking at is directed at either of the two. "I was just doing my job, you idiots. It's easier because he's _that_ grossed out."

_"Guess being a homophobe didn't turn out so well for you, did it, Callahan?"_ Felix calls out on the man, snorting.

That's when Seungmin comes back inside, a bottle of water in hand.

"Hey," Jisung shoots him a grin, getting on his feet. "It's finished. Your hiccups gone now?"

"I see. Good job," Seungmin breathes out and nods. "Yeah. It's gone now."

_"Cherry!"_ Chan and Felix chorus through the mic, startling the both of them. _"Peter just went and told Callahan all his sexual fantasies about you!"_ Felix nearly screams, too excited for his own good.

Seungmin squints at the mirror at that, furrowing his brows questioningly. Jisung groans and runs a hand down his face.

"Guys, I do _not_ have sexual fantasies about Cherry. I saw an opportunity to make Callahan talk and I took it," he rolls his eyes and walks past Seungmin, heading out.

(He misses the way Seungmin stares at the door and purses his lips to the side, sighing inwardly and walking out as well. Chan and Felix could only share dumbfounded looks from the other room.)

One night, while they're at the bar celebrating Chan's big bust, Jisung had chosen to sullenly sit by the bar by himself instead of joining in on the fun, his mind too preoccupied with his own pending case that he's just one clue away from solving.

Sighing, he slumps himself over the counter, head in his arms as he stares aimlessly at his half-finished drink, trying to think, think, _think._

And that's what he does for the next fifteen minutes, unmoving—probably also unblinking, he can't remember—until he sees the familiar mop of red hair on his right and blinks back to his senses, watching the figure settle down on the seat beside him.

"Why are you here," asks Seungmin; though it doesn't sound like a question and more like an order, but Jisung surprisingly doesn't shoot up from his seat like he expects he would, still too bummed out at himself.

Jisung sighs out silently through his nose, eyes peering up at the redhead dejectedly. "I don't know," he slurs, "Christopher and I were so stoked about making our big busts this morning after we both found new leads for our own cases. I was so confident I was going to make it and we were going to celebrate here together tonight, but here I am."

Seungmin stays quiet.

Jisung starts to wonder if he didn't answer his question properly or if he shared too much unnecessary details, and maybe Seungmin really will stop liking him this time and he's screwing up his case _and_ his chance with love all at the same time, and he's ready to apologize to at least keep _one_—

"It's okay," murmurs Seungmin, lifting up a hand and moving it towards him tentatively, pausing for a second before resting it atop Jisung's head and petting his hair gently.

Jisung swears he feels his heart combust.

Chan had told him those two words over and over again throughout the whole day, but when it was Seungmin who said it...

"Wow," he whispers to himself, sighing dreamily and savoring the way Seungmin touches his hair until the redhead abruptly stops and takes his hand back, cheeks flushed a little as he looks away and calls the barista to order another drink for himself.

As he slowly lifts his head back up, he briefly gets distracted by the barista starting to make the drink before letting himself stare shamelessly at Seungmin again—and then he does a double take on the other side of the counter, eyeing the liquor shelves behind the barista, gaze lingering on the bottles as his brain seems to function on its own, until something in his head clicks.

"Wait," he sits up straight, eyes wide as he turns to Seungmin before hastily getting up from his seat. "I just figured it out. I gotta go."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Seungmin looks up at him, brows raised questioningly, expecting.

Jisung blinks for a few times at that, a bit flustered, before he slowly and unsurely steps back towards Seungmin, leaning down awkwardly to press a soft kiss onto the side of his head before pulling back, feeling his face heat up at the sight of the redhead staring up at him owlishly. "... See you tomorrow, Cherry."

And with that, he quickly dashes out of the bar, missing the way Seungmin stares down at his drink with a visible blush on his face and murmurs a quiet, "Idiot."

"Peter," Mark stops him in his tracks just as he's passing by the older male's desk, handing him a stack of folders. "Hand this to Kim for me, will you?"

"Right away, Sarge," Jisung grins, marching his way towards Seungmin's desk and shooting him a friendly smile as he places the folders down on an empty spot. "Hey Cherry. Sarge asked—"

He doesn't get to finish what he's saying when Seungmin stands up from his office chair and swoops in to plant a soft, brief kiss right onto his lips in one fluid motion, leaving Jisung to gape at him with saucers for eyes. "... Cherry, what are you—"

Seungmin cuts him off with another quick kiss, pulling away and casually licking his own lips as he stares intently into Jisung's eyes, waiting. Jisung feels himself blushing furiously from his face to his neck, hearing a chorus of whooping and whistles from everyone in the office at the public display.

"Cherry," he lowers his voice, leaning a little closer to Seungmin's face to let him hear. "I don't understand."

Seungmin kisses him again and even nibbles on his bottom lip before pulling away this time, making Jisung even more flustered before giving him the smallest of grins—_fucking_ attractive—as he murmurs, "Felix offered to do my paperwork for a week if I kiss you everytime you call my name for a whole day."

Jisung slowly starts to feel disappointed at that, until Seungmin adds: "It's a double-win for me."

"Oh."

Seungmin then reaches up to hold Jisung's necktie with his fingertips, causing him to widen his eyes even further as he's tugged closer. "Now say my name again before the Captain gets back."

"... Are you suggesting we keep making out in front of everyone? This is highly inappropriate—"

Seungmin just pulls him back in and kisses him breathless.

(He ignores the distinct sound of Felix shouting _'this is the best day of my life!'_ in the background and a bunch of camera shutters going off.)

"Since the Captain's going to be away for the week, I'll be in charge for now," Mark announces in the briefing room, taking the stand. "First order of business: as the Captain and I suspected, Brian and Jae couldn't handle being on that week-long stakeout together like they said they would in the end. They're at each other's throats now so I'm pulling them out before they possibly blow this operation. We'll have another pair cover the remaining three days to catch Collins."

"Sarge, I would like to volunteer myself and Christopher," Felix speaks up, already looking excited as he shares a grin with Chan.

"The last thing I need is another pair of best friends having a petty fight," Mark retorts immediately, raising an index finger to stop whatever the two blondes are about to say in protest, leaving them disappointed. "I'm sending out Cherry and Peter."

In contrast to Seungmin, who just nods and stifles a yawn behind his hand, Jisung's mouth ungraciously falls open as he starts sputtering out nonsense.

"You two are to pack your bags immediately after this briefing and switch places with Brian and Jae at the motel. No exceptions."

"Holy shit!" Felix whoops loudly and claps, throwing his fists in the air victoriously. "This is the best thing ever!"

Brian and Jae are already standing by the receptionist's counter when they arrive at the motel, waiting.

Upon sight of them, a very grumpy looking Jae immediately leaves Brian and walks ahead, giving Jisung a nod and sharing a fistbump with Seungmin (Jisung holds back a laugh because they look like they're mad at each other while doing it) before walking out the door.

Brian just shakes his head before turning to the two of them with a tired smile, handing him the key. "We took turns every six hours, but I suggest you guys should just go with eight him, eight you, and eight hours of sleep at night for both of you because we realized that nothing really happens at night. Friendly advice, don't even try to sleep in the day. You literally can't and we both just wasted time trying to. You're welcome," he gives them both a pat on the shoulder and starts walking past.

Right before stepping outside, though, he stops and turns to face them again. "And Jae probably left crumbs all over the bed so just change the sheets."

Jisung blinks for a few times, registering the words in his head. "Bed singular?"

And Brian's already walked out.

Jisung then sprints towards the door and opens it, yelling, "BRIAN, BED SINGULAR?"

"Apparently they switched the curtain to a really thin black one that lets us see outside but doesn't let the outside see us," Jisung remarks as he stands in front of the window, peering outside before taking a few steps back and squinting. "We have to be sitting right in front of the window like some kind of sad old person though. I can't see anything from here."

Meanwhile, Seungmin's still in the middle of changing the bedsheets with the clean ones he found in the closet, already looking distressed as he does. "Brian's right. We can't sleep in the day. It's like the trains are right beside us."

Jisung takes the only chair in the room and rolls it by the window, seating himself on it as he blinks to himself in thought. "I mean, it's only two nights. I can handle sitting down in this chair by the desk and sleep there instead."

Seungmin gives him a look and raises a brow. "Don't be an idiot, Peter. We're both sleeping on this bed. You know Brian and Jae only ended up fighting because they were both cranky from not getting enough sleep."

"... Oh. Right," Jisung murmurs, pressing his lips together.

It didn't even cross his mind.

_Damn,_ he internally curses. He is seriously not a good detective. Screw Seungmin and his perfect detective skills.

Screw that singular bed and how small it is.

Jisung should have expected it, when Seungmin comes out of the shower later that night in his plain white pajamas, with his still damp, messy red hair, and his completely bare face.

A complete hundred-eighty degree transformation from the usual edgy Seungmin. He looks absolutely _soft_ and Jisung feels like crying.

Seungmin pauses on his way to the bed—to _him_—to look at him with knitted brows (and Jisung knows it's supposed to be his default glare, but now he just looks like a grumpy puppy and it's killing him). "What's up with you? You look like you're... about to explode."

Jisung lets out the breath he had been holding in into a strangled, weird noise, lightly slapping at his cheeks and rapidly shaking his head to pull himself together. "Nothing, nothing." _You're just really attractive and now I'm ten times more attracted to you than I already have been for the past four months._

Seungmin suddenly looks caught offguard, and Jisung ultimately realizes what he's done. "I said that outloud, didn't I."

With a nod and a calm _'mhm,'_ (even his humming is attractive, screw him) Seungmin resumes his walk towards the bed, sitting on the edge of it and turning to face Jisung. "Just to clarify, what was that supposed to mean?"

Jisung blinks dumbly for a moment. "That, uh... I've been romantically and se—" he abruptly pauses, feeling his face quickly heating up. "That I've been into you, ever since you transferred into our precinct...? I like you," he states the last bit a little more confidently, finally breathing out and relaxing his shoulders.

"... Oh," Seungmin stares at him for a while, looking puzzled as his gaze falls onto the ground. "I thought you only started giving me a chance after Felix made me confess to you."

Jisung's mouth falls open. Maybe Seungmin wasn't that perfect a detective after all.

"You always avoided me and looked at me weird," Seungmin continues, frown deepening as he seems to be recalling certain memories.

That's when it hits Jisung.

Everytime he's about to walk into their office's break room to have a snack and see only Seungmin inside, he'd spin back around and pretend to have forgotten something, and never come back.

Everytime he gets partnered up with Seungmin, in one way or another, his reaction would be a distressed one because he knows he would have to mentally and emotionally prepare himself to be alone with Seungmin in a car, a room, or any place at all for more than two minutes.

And everytime he unconsciously watches over Seungmin and sees how amazing he is at doing his job, he'd look away with a sigh and feel bad about himself for not being anything like him.

_Oh._

"That's... because I like you," he confesses, scratching at his head a little when Seungmin looks at him again with a confused frown. "It's hard to explain."

"You're weird," Seungmin snorts, moving to make his way towards his side of the bed beside Jisung, lying on his back with a content sigh.

Jisung shifts awkwardly in his seat, hugging his knees to his chest as he tries to come up with anything to talk about to kill the deafening silence. "Um," he starts, fiddling with his fingers. "Is there a reason the English name you chose is Cherry? I mean your hair is red, but..."

There's only silence for a while, and when he dares looking down at Seungmin, the redhead's simply raising a brow up at him. "Right," he clears his throat and looks away again, nodding. "You don't like small talk. I heard you tell Christopher that before."

"It was my parents' childhood nickname for me," Seungmin suddenly speaks up instead, to his surprise. "I once threw a tantrum as a kid by not speaking or moving at all. Then my idiot dad thought it'd be fun to balance a handful of cherries on my head to see if they wouldn't fall off. They stayed on my head for the next two hours."

At that, Jisung fails to stifle down his laugh, reaching up to cover his mouth with the back of his hand instead as he cracks up and throws his head back. "Oh my God, I can totally picture that in my head. This is so amazing—I can't believe you'd let me know something like that."

His laughter dies down, though, when he finally notices Seungmin peering up at him with that fond smile on his face again, and Jisung ends up looking away flusteredly. "I—thought you didn't like small talk."

"It's fine if it's you."

Jisung resists the urge to get up and run to the rooftop to scream his lungs out. "Oh. Cool, cool, cool..."

"What about you," Seungmin murmurs a bit slowly, sounding a little unsure, as if he's never tried asking anything about anyone before. Jisung finds it fucking _adorable._ "Why do you insist everyone calls you by your Korean name?"

"Are we somehow playing twenty questions?" he finds himself blurting out giddily before he realizes it.

"Nevermind. I'm going to sleep."

"Wait—no, no no no, Cherry please talk to me! I'm sorry!" he cries, uncurling himself from his position and fully facing the redhead now as he holds his hand pleadingly.

Seungmin stiffens at that, looking down at their hands before looking up at him, but just as Jisung's about to let go and apologize, Seungmin chases after his hand again and shifts his gaze away, lacing their fingers together.

Jisung widens his eyes and feels his heart skip a beat when he catches the smallest hint of pink on the redhead's cheeks.

"Proceed."

Blinking, he breaks out into a really big smile, heart fluttering as he gives Seungmin's hand a soft squeeze. "Well, I actually don't mind my English name at all, even though people say it sounds like Peter Pan. I mean, Pan and Han aren't even pronounced the same way! But—I do like my name. I'm just insistent on being called Jisung by people I really care about because it makes me feel closer to them, you know? Though, they really do call me Jisung! Just not that often because they like to tease me, but it makes me really, _really_ happy."

There's silence again for an uncomfortable amount of time, and Jisung almost apologizes for blabbering too much—until Seungmin finally meets his gaze again and whispers, almost shyly, "Jisung."

Jisung stops breathing and ends up staring at him like a lovesick fool.

"Time to sleep," Seungmin hastily lets go of his hand and turns his back on him, pulling the covers up to his head.

Maybe it's because there isn't a spare pillow he can hug to sleep, maybe it's Seungmin lying down there just mere inches away from him, or maybe it's the realization that's finally, _finally_ registering in his head at a hundred percent that Seungmin really is into him, but he doesn't sleep a single wink.

Jisung's already on stakeout duty by the window when Seungmin stirs awake the next morning, sipping his second pot of coffee (after having realized it'd be more convenient than pouring coffee in his mug over and over again).

He briefly turns to give him a tired smile and a _'good morning,'_ widening his eyes a little at the sight of Seungmin's shirt riding up to his chest and exposing his pretty, slim waist—before turning back around to face the curtain and cursing quietly to himself.

Screw his gorgeous waist and his gorgeous abs and his gorgeous body.

"I bought you breakfast from the convenience store," he stammers out. "Hopefully their omelette tastes like food. I had them heat it up there just in case you were awake by the time I got back, but it's probably cold now so you can heat it up in the microwave. Don't worry, the microwave works, I checked it earlier and—"

It catches him offguard when Seungmin saunters over to his side and leans down, pressing a gentle kiss onto his cheek and murmuring a soft _'thank you, Peter'_ before making his way to the little table in the room and taking out his breakfast from the plastic bag with a yawn.

And as Jisung places a hand over his pounding chest, he wonders if he's simply had way too much coffee or if he's actually fallen in love with Seungmin already.

That afternoon, Jisung confirms—it's impossible to fall asleep in the day, no matter how tired and sleepless he is. It's like the trains are three times louder today and the outside heat is too much for the room's AC unit to handle anymore.

Jisung tosses and turns on the bed and lets out an exasperated sigh, staring at Seungmin's back, who's still just quietly observing through the window. "Hey, Cherry," he calls tiredly, rubbing at his eyes. "I'm bored. Can we play twenty questions again?"

"Why are you even trying to sleep right now?" Seungmin mutters without turning to face him.

Jisung grins. Twenty questions. _Yes._ "I couldn't sleep at all last night. I have a hard time falling asleep without anything to hug."

"You should have taken the pillow under your head."

"I can't fall asleep without a pillow under my head either," he chuckles, humming thoughtfully before licking his lips in hesitance. "So I've always kind of wanted to know—is there like... a reason you like me?"

It's only silence again for a while, but Jisung smiles, knowing to wait this time. If there's one thing he learned ever since this whole thing started because of Felix, it's that Seungmin never really lies or tries to hide anything and is straightforward in his own way. Jisung just needs to know how to ask.

"I don't know the reason," he starts, "but I do know when I started liking you."

Jisung raises his brows, intrigued.

"It was my second week in the precinct. I got caught up on trying to crack a hopeless case and forgot to take care of myself for about three days. I didn't think anyone would notice." Seungmin seems to take a breath after that before he turns to face Jisung, murmuring quietly. "You came to the office on your day off just to bring me lunch."

Jisung widens his eyes slightly and flushes. "I... Oh."

He remembers having done that. He spent all morning searching up recipes and cooking all kinds of dishes because he didn't know what Seungmin liked; just that he needed to eat _something._

Seungmin had looked at him weirdly that day, and he ended up panicking, apologizing and dashing his way out of the office, utterly embarrassed after realizing he was acting just like a high school girl offering her homemade lunch box to her crush.

"I never got to thank you for that," Seungmin presses his lips together before looking him in the eyes. "Thank you. You're really sweet."

And for a while, Jisung just stares at him, stunned and maybe a little bit in love, taking in the way Seungmin's voice isn't as hard and as cold as he remembers it to be, how his gaze seems to be softening with each passing second. He takes in the sight of his still bare, somewhat puffy face, his slightly messy hair sticking up in various directions, and he engraves it all into his mind, never wanting to forget any of it.

"You're beautiful," he whispers, unable to stop himself.

Seungmin's cheeks turn pink as he smiles a little and bites on his lower lip, and Jisung captures that image into his head as well just before the redhead turns to face the curtain again. "You have to stop being so distracting."

"... Are you telling me to stop bugging you or are you flirting with me?"

"You ask too many questions."

"Cherry, you know I'm dumb. Please tell me."

Seungmin lets out a groan. "I was flirting with you."

Jisung claps and throws his fists up in the air. "Cherry still likes me. Yes!"

When Seungmin comes out of the shower again that night, Jisung shoots up from the bed and full-on _gawks._ "Fuck."

Seungmin pauses, startled, frowning a little in confusion as he seems to shift awkwardly under his gaze. "... What?"

Jisung inhales, exhales, and blinks a few times just to see if his sleep-deprived state isn't making him delusional.

Seungmin is wearing a nightgown. A fucking _nightgown._

A spaghetti strap is all that hangs from his shoulders, hiding much too little of his skin from his neck down to his collarbones, and to his arms. The pure black silk connects it straight across his chest and flows down just until his thighs, loosely, but also just enough to show the curves along his slim waist and his hips.

Jisung hopes he isn't drooling.

"Peter."

"I'm not drooling!"

Seungmin looks taken aback, and Jisung slaps a hand over his mouth, tearing his gaze away from Seungmin's bare legs and cursing under his breath.

"Oh," Seungmin looks down at his gown and back at him before holding the hem and lifting it up—exposing even more of this thighs, to Jisung's poor sanity—ready to take it off as he takes a step back. "I'll get changed—"

"No! No no no, you don't have to," Jisung shakes his head quickly along with his hands, letting out a sigh of relief as Seungmin lets go of his gown and mumbles an unsure _'okay.'_ "You just look really—" he pauses, breathing out a little dreamily as he finds himself giving the redhead another once over. "You're really gorgeous."

Seungmin presses his lips together before quirking the corner of his lips up in a tiny smile, sauntering towards the bed and finally crawling onto the mattress beside him. Jisung stays absolutely still, stiffening as the redhead comes closer and closer, unable to keep his eyes from roaming around his lithe figure.

"I brought this along in case it might be too hot to sleep in pajamas," Seungmin mutters, fingers fiddling with the material of his nightgown as he sits cross-legged (his _thighs,_ Jisung internally screams).

"I... don't mean to pry," he starts cautiously, shifting in his place to turn around and completely face Seungmin with a curious glint in his eyes. "But are nightgowns perhaps what you actually wear on a daily basis at home?"

Seungmin shoots him a pointed look, narrowing his eyes before looking away. "Yeah."

"Fuck," Jisung mutters, shamelessly staring the other down again. "Cherry, I'm gonna be honest with you—you're fucking hot."

Seungmin looks back at him in surprise, blinking once before letting out an amused chuckle—to Jisung's shock—shifting in his place and leaning in to plant a soft, wet kiss onto his lips before pulling away with a smile and reaching up to caress Jisung's cheek with the back of his hand. "I would have let you do anything to me if only you didn't need sleep."

Jisung gawks for the second time, and Seungmin _laughs._

And it's the prettiest thing he ever did see.

"I'm joking," he adds, softly and somewhat sleepily, resting his back against the bed's headboard. "I know you don't like me like that."

Furrowing his brows, Jisung slowly shifts his gaze to the side and back at Seungmin, confused. "Like what?"

"You said it yourself, didn't you?" Seungmin raises a brow, tilting his head a bit. "You're into me, but only romantically. And you have no sexual fantasies about me. That's fine."

Jisung chokes on his spit.

He doesn't know up to what extent Seungmin could be so _casual._

"What?" Seungmin sits up a little, knitting his brows at him. "Isn't it true?"

"I was just shy to admit it, okay!" he exclaims, hands palming his reddening cheeks as he wails and rocks his body back and forth in embarrassment. "I'm not as straightforward as you are!"

"Oh," murmurs Seungmin, blinking to himself with raised brows. "That's nice."

Jisung gapes at him, feeling his face heat up even more as he starts sputtering out nonsense.

"Let's sleep," Seungmin moves to lie on his side, facing Jisung's side of the bed, so Jisung awkwardly lies down facing the redhead as well, making sure to leave some distance in between them to give the other more space.

They stare at each other for a moment or two, and he almost says something random and stupid just to break the silence, but Seungmin soon wraps his arms around Jisung's neck and pulls him closer, hugging his head to his chest. Jisung stills, wide eyes blinking and shifting around as he tries to register what's happening. (And also kind of wondering how the redhead smells so good.)

"What are you waiting for?" asks Seungmin, tucking Jisung's head under his chin and holding him even closer by the shoulders, pressing them flush against each other. "You said you can't sleep without hugging anything."

It takes another moment before Jisung realizes what Seungmin's telling him to do. "Oh. _Oh._ Uh," he lifts his arm, unsure, awkwardly moving it around in the air as he tries to figure out where he's supposed to place it, until Seungmin ends up holding his wrist and making him hug his waist instead.

And wow, his _waist._ It's so perfectly slim and and fits perfectly in his arms and Jisung doesn't want this night to ever end.

Jisung doesn't resist the urge to hold him tighter and pull him closer, secretly reveling in the way Seungmin's chest rumbles as he lets out a chuckle at that. With a happy smile, he breathes out a content sigh and flutters his eyes closed, finally letting sleep take over him.

Fully waking up the next morning doesn't take as long as it usually does the first time he opens his eyes, when he gets cross-eyed just trying to look at Seungmin's ethereal, sleeping face right in front of his, just a nudge away until their noses touch; how one of his nightgown's straps have already slid down his shoulder, looking _so_ sinfully enticing; and most importantly, how Seungmin has a leg draped over Jisung's hip, his nightgown riding further, _further_ up there.

Jisung gulps, slowly and discreetly reaching up to fix the redhead's strap back on his shoulder before carefully moving his hand back down to hold the hem of his nightgown, pulling it down gently before letting out the breath he'd been holding in.

"Morning."

With a surprised yelp, Jisung leans back and raises both his hands, eyes wide as he sees Seungmin staring at him blankly. "I—I was just—"

"I know," Seungmin interrupts, moving his arm up from Jisung's shoulder to carefully cup his hand along the side of his neck instead, fingers caressing his nape in featherlight touches, and Jisung almost shudders at the contact. "You wouldn't lay a hand on me even if I ask you to."

Seungmin tugs him closer and presses a soft, quick peck onto his lips before pulling away and fully detaching himself from Jisung, sitting up before finally getting up on his feet, leaving him to blink up at him dumbly.

"You should keep resting. I'll take the first shift."

Jisung stammers, confused, sitting up on the mattress as he watches Seungmin walk towards the bathroom. "Wait, what did you mean by that? Cherry, are you upset with me?"

There's a pause, before Seungmin mumbles, "I don't know. Maybe. A little. It's nothing, I'll get over it."

Before Jisung can ask anything more, he walks inside the bathroom and closes the door.

**operation get cherry and peter hitched! (4)**

_and he was like_

_idk_

_maybe_

_a little_

_it's nothing, i'll get over it_

_guys i don't understand pls tell me what i messed up_

_it's been hours and it is Killing me_

**_Samuel:_** peter how are you even a detective

**_Felice:_** the only thing everyone doesn't understand

**_Felice:_** is why cherry is even into u

**_Samuel:_** amen

_can i go just One Day without you guys dissing me_

**_Christiano:_** ok look

**_Christiano:_** peter

**_Christiano:_** have you ever even made the first move on cherry

**_Christiano:_** like

**_Christiano:_** ever

**_Felice:_** yeah dude everytime u tell us u two kissed it's always been just

**_Felice:_** "omg cherry kissed me"

**_Samuel:_** when will we ever get an "omg i kissed cherry" from you

**_Samuel:_** coward

_oh_

_oh shit_

🍒

Jisung spends the next half hour in the shower trying to figure out how he could possibly do the first move, for once, but naturally and casually, and not at all awkward. Just like Seungmin.

Ergo, impossible.

So when he walks back out into the room searching for the shirt he forgot to bring along and notices the way Seungmin's chair spins in the same direction he's going to from his peripheral view, he suddenly stops, blinking down at his half-naked state before slowly turning to look at the redhead.

Surely enough, Seungmin's eyes aren't meeting his—they're pretty much _glued_ to his abs, and he's not even blinking.

_Oh._

Jisung briefly gives it a thought, and cautiously, he pads his way over until he's standing in front of him, widening his eyes a little in wonder when Seungmin doesn't even bother tilting his head back to look up at him, eyes simply roaming along his abdomen and chest.

He can almost hear Chan, Felix and Hyunjin repeatedly yelling _'this is your chance!'_ at him in his head.

Jisung takes it. "Do you... want to touch it?"

That gets Seungmin finally looking up at him, hopeful, before nodding silently, and Jisung takes a second to register it in his head—he _truly_ wasn't expecting that response—before taking a couple of steps forward.

And he takes one more, when Seungmin willingly moves his knees apart to let him stand in between them.

Carefully, Seungmin lifts up a hand and lets his fingertips graze over the firm muscles on his abdomen, pausing before finally resting his palm against Jisung's bare skin, pressing ever so gently. He takes his time moving up, down, and lingering there for a little while.

When he slowly starts trailing further upward, his other hand follows suit, settling right at the center of his chest before he locks eyes with Jisung, fingers splaying out and caressing the expanse in featherlight touches.

And Seungmin's staring up at him hopefully again, waiting, and Jisung finally does what he should have been doing all this time.

In one quick motion, he hunches forward and captures his lips into a kiss, fighting back a smile when he feels how Seungmin immediately melts into it and kisses back eagerly with a soft sigh. Jisung ultimately stops hesitating and just lets his tongue lap at Seungmin's bottom lip, nibbling and suckling on it gently, silently reveling in the way he feels the other sucking in a sharp breath.

Soon enough, Seungmin's tugging him closer and kissing him back much more fervently, both their mouths open as their tongues lightly lap at one another. Steadying himself by holding onto the chair's armrests, Jisung presses just a little harder and finds himself moving his lips against Seungmin's in a slightly rougher manner, _hungry,_ and it coaxes out a whimper that catches him offguard.

Soon, he breaks the kiss and catches his breath, eyes gazing down at the redhead—and he looks absolutely _wrecked_ that Jisung has to take a moment to take it all in.

Seungmin's lips are swollen and slick with spit, still slightly parted as he quietly breathes in and out; his cheeks are flushed so, so prettily, reaching up to the tips of his ears; and his eyes—_oh, his eyes_—they're barely even open anymore, still dazed from their heated little make out session as he peers up at Jisung through his lashes.

"Peter," he whispers pleadingly, _helplessly,_ taking Jisung's hand into his before carefully slipping it under his dress, guiding it up to his thighs.

Jisung's heart pounds loudly against his chest, eyes widening just the slightest bit as he becomes aware of what Seungmin wants, and he knows he shouldn't be doing this, but he's moving his hand further up and lifting up Seungmin's nightgown even more and—

_He shouldn't be doing this._

"Cherry," he murmurs, glancing up at the wall clock and at the curtain behind Seungmin's chair. "We're on stakeout duty. It's—it's my shift now, and we're supposed to be switching."

The life seems to return to Seungmin's eyes at that, but he doesn't look fazed—instead, he looks confident as he simply says, "Do me while you do work."

Jisung blinks rapidly, sputtering and blushing a little. "I—what—you're telling me to have sex with you? Like this? While keeping an eye on the window at the same time?"

Seungmin nods.

"Cherry," he gapes incredulously, glancing between the redhead and the black curtain. "I can barely see anything here. I need to be sitting right in front of—"

Seungmin reaches behind him and shoves the curtain open by pushing it all to one side, leaving Jisung absolutely flabbergasted. "There. Now you can see."

That, he can, indeed. Even if he keeps his gaze only on Seungmin, he can easily notice if there's anything going on outside just from his peripheral view, but—

"There's a whole city out there who can easily see us too. This window is really, _really_ clean and clear and—"

"Our cover won't be blown either," Seungmin simply continues, fingers already hooking along the belt loops of Jisung's pants as he tugs him closer before undoing the button and starting to pull the zipper down. "We're in a motel after all."

"Cherry, this—this chair you're sitting on barely hides _anything_ of you!"

And, to Jisung's poor sanity, Seungmin just lifts his butt off of the chair and reaches under his nightgown, pulling his underwear down to his knees and sitting back down before proceeding to shimmy the piece of garment to his ankles, pulling one foot out from it and letting his underwear dangle along his other ankle as he folds his legs up to his chest and spreads them open, both feet planting onto the armrests into this very seductive, _very_ erotic position.

"Let them watch," is all he says, eyes firmly staring into Jisung's own wide ones as he holds the hem of his dress and slowly lifts it up, shamelessly exposing all of himself for Jisung.

And as he lets his eyes trail from the tip of Seungmin's dainty, half-hard cock down to his already glistening hole with a gulp, he feels himself harden, twitching and throbbing in his pants. "Fuck."

Seungmin's expression turns smug, knowing he's got Jisung wrapped around his finger now, quirking the corners of his lips up into a tiny smirk as he reaches towards Jisung's boxers and slips his fingers into the hole in the center, carefully pulling his cock out and grasping it firmly.

Jisung sucks in a breath when Seungmin starts stroking him to life right away, completely hardening within just a few seconds as a quiet groan escapes his throat.

"We need to hurry," murmurs Seungmin breathily, his free arm extending towards the desk by their side to pull out the top drawer and taking out a small bottle, popping it open with his thumb. "We don't know when we'll have to get out there."

And he's squirting lube on Jisung's cock and spreading it evenly with continuous strokes—Jisung decides then to refrain from asking whether it was actually Seungmin's or not—before tapping at the back of one of his hands.

Jisung obeys the silent request and lifts a hand off of the armrest, letting the redhead squirt some lube on his fingers, before Seungmin tosses the bottle aside and says, "Finger me."

Fucking _hot,_ Jisung internalizes, unable to stop himself from shooting forward and latching his lips back onto Seungmin's in a fierce kiss as he briefly spreads the lube on his fingers until they're properly coated, hand feeling up and squeezing Seungmin's luscious thigh until he reaches his destination.

He slides a finger all the way in and swallows the tiny mewl it draws out, growling lowly when the action causes Seungmin to squeeze him just a little more before breaking the kiss, eyes briefly glancing at the window and back before starting to insert a second finger.

Seungmin writhes underneath him, mouth parted and quietly gasping for air before spreading his legs even wider as Jisung starts scissoring him, rushed and hasty.

But it's not quite enough yet, so Jisung decides to slide in a third finger after a bit, and just out of curiosity, he pulls them halfway out and shoves them back in roughly, taking delight in the way Seungmin lets out a moan and arches his back.

"Peter," he whines, needy, biting down on his bottom lip. "Hurry."

"Just a little more," he murmurs, pressing a soft kiss onto Seungmin's forehead—which causes a faint blush, much to Jisung's amusement—before continuing to stretch him out by pulling his fingers as far apart as possible from one another.

Just before he pulls them out, though, he chooses to test out one more thing, pushing them in just a little more until he hears Seungmin gasp loudly—and jackpot.

He roughly curls his fingers against the bundle of nerves, and Seungmin lets out a throaty cry.

Jisung almost comes just from that sound alone.

Finally taking them out, he lets himself savor the moment Seungmin whimpers at the loss of contact—but almost instantly, he's hooking his legs around Jisung's hips and pulling him closer, the hand still on his cock already positioning Jisung's tip against the rim of his hole impatiently.

Before he even realizes it, Seungmin's digging his heels onto his back and pushing him inside in one quick slide, moans drawling out from both of them as Jisung is enveloped, swallowed and sucked into his tight heat, feeling the way Seungmin clenches around him so _needily._

To his misfortune, that's when he sees movement outside.

"You have got to be kidding me," he bemoans, watching their perp from the window (and ignoring a few other pedestrians who seem fairly interested in his and Seungmin's sexual intercourse) before glancing down at the redhead. "Perp's here. He just entered the safe house."

Seungmin sighs, but he still doesn't look all that concerned as he reaches over the desk again and grabs his phone, dialing Mark's number before bringing it up to his ear. "I'll handle this. You, start moving."

Jisung blinks more than just a few times, thinking that'd be ridiculous, but he basically just _got_ inside Seungmin, they're both still very much hard, and Seungmin is so wonderfully tight and hot around him—he can't let this slip by.

So he does as he's told and starts thrusting in and out steadily, feeling even more aroused with the way Seungmin gasps and arches his back, legs spreading impossibly wider to accommodate him as he lets out quiet little noises of pleasure.

"Sarge," he breathes out as his call is picked up, and Jisung almost pauses by instinct, but Seungmin silently gestures him to _'keep going'_ with his hand as he proceeds to talk to Mark.

Jisung leans down until his ear is right by the opposite side of Seungmin's phone as well, pulling the redhead's strap down from his shoulder and allowing himself to plant kisses along his neck and collarbone as he listens in the conversation and continues to move hips back and forth with much more vigor.

It makes Seungmin take a sharp intake of breath in between his sentence. "... and yes, Peter—_ah_—already spotted C—Collins."

A pause. _"Okay. How long has he been there?"_

"We—_oh!_ We called, right after—" he abruptly pauses, letting out another involuntary moan into his ear, his free hand moving up to run his fingers through Jisung's hair. "Right after we saw him."

_"... Are you in the middle of having sex while talking to me right now?"_

"You're the one who told us to call you immediately, Sarge," Jisung scoffs, leaning out from Seungmin's neck to give his lips a few wet smooches, letting their lips smack loudly on purpose and smiling when he feels the redhead's lips curling up at his actions.

Seungmin soon stops him with a gentle hand to his chest, caressing his skin carefully as he speaks to Mark. "Don't worry. We're almost finished."

_"I cannot believe you two—"_

He hangs up and tosses his phone back to the desk before immediately wrapping both of his arms around Jisung's shoulders to pull him in for another kiss, lips moving together sloppily as Jisung pounds faster, _harder_ into him, aiming right at his sweet spot and swallowing all of Seungmin's loud moans and whimpers with each thrust.

Seungmin breaks the kiss when he runs out of breath, panting heavily, and soon he's holding his own cock and shamelessly stroking himself—_playing_ with himself in front of Jisung, fingers toying with his leaking tip as he dips into the slit and smears it around the head slowly, giving him a show.

And Jisung really, really didn't think he could get any more turned on as he watches the redhead turn into a moaning, crying mess underneath him, desperately trying to come as he touches himself, and Jisung ends up being unable to stop himself from pulling Seungmin's hand away to get him off instead.

It makes Seungmin arch his back even further and become even louder, and Jisung's pretty sure the rest of the floor can hear them now—maybe even the people watching them through the window outside, but it makes him feel _way_ more aroused. He toys around with the tip the same way he saw Seungmin did, silently reveling at how the redhead throws his head back and lets out little, stuttered whimpers in pleasure, hands now gripping tightly at Jisung's biceps.

"You like that?" Jisung murmurs breathlessly into his ear, nibbling briefly on his earlobe before moving back to let himself see Seungmin again, obsessed with watching the redhead's obscene reactions to his every touch.

"Yes—_oh,_ babe, yes...!" Seungmin chants, gripping even tighter at Jisung's arms as his body rocks into the chair.

His response brings Jisung incredibly close, but without warning, Seungmin's the one who's coming undone first, spilling all over his black dress and over Jisung's fist as he gasps raggedly throughout his orgasm.

The erotic sight in front of him is what finally gets him unloading inside of Seungmin, his thrusts eventually slowing down as he rides out his orgasm, the lewd, juicy sounds of skins slapping filling the small room.

By the time he's done, he's a bit surprised to see Seungmin's cock still letting out weak little spurts of cum all over his nightgown, so he helps him and starts to stroke him again, milking him dry—before curving his lips up into a fond smile when Seungmin sighs contentedly at his touch and reaches up a hand to caress Jisung's cheek gingerly.

Feeling drained, Jisung presses a tired kiss onto Seungmin's head before pulling out and staggering back until he reaches the bed, instantly plopping down on the mattress and letting himself admire the redhead's state from there—legs spread out and hanging over the chair's armrests, cock laying flat against the silk of his nightgown over his stomach, and his messy, stretched out hole still leaking of Jisung's cum.

He briefly considers taking a photo because they're gonna have to get up and do their jobs soon and he won't be able to admire the sight for much longer, but Seungmin's getting up on his feet already before he even gets to do anything, closing the curtain behind him.

It catches him offguard, though, when Seungmin starts making his way in front of him and straddles his lap, hand finding its way around Jisung's cock once more before positioning himself above it and casually sinking himself down on it, arms comfortably settling around Jisung's shoulders as soon as he's fully inside. "You pulled out so soon."

Jisung blinks rapidly in shock, trying his best not to let the blood rush back to his cock as he feels himself be enveloped into Seungmin's heat again. "I—I mean... it _is_ pretty tiring when you're sitting down and I'm standing up, Cherry."

Seungmin snorts quietly, amused, before leaning down and planting a soft smooch onto Jisung's lips. "We still have some time before backup arrives. Stay inside a while."

"Okay," he agrees easily, swooping back in for another kiss as he slips his hands up under Seungmin's nightgown, firmly holding his slim waist and thumbing gently at his prominent hipbones.

The small, quiet moan Seungmin lets out at his touches turns out to be enough to make his dick come to life again, though, and Seungmin must have felt him twitch inside him, because he's breaking the kiss and looking down at Jisung incredulously.

Jisung looks away sheepishly.

"Really, Peter?"

"Hey—you're the one who sat on my dick, and now you're being all hot and everything so it's not my fault!"

"Fine," Seungmin breathes out, resting his forehead onto Jisung's before murmuring seductively against his lips. "I'll ride you."

Jisung undoubtedly _throbs_ at the thought, and he almost feels embarrassed—but there's a small, pretty laugh escaping Seungmin's lips at his reaction anyway and he thinks, it's worth it.

🍒

"LAPD, you're under arrest!"

"... With all due respect, officer," Collins says slowly, raising his hands in the air. "Your fly is open."

Seungmin lets out a suppressed laugh, pressing his lips together to hold back his smile as he walks over to cuff Collins, while the other officers go to the rest of the latter's men.

Jisung falters a little, flustered, heat quickly rising to the tips of his ears as he hastily zips up his pants. "You have the right to remain _silent—_"

The next morning, as Jisung makes his way to his desk, he sees Mark's head following his direction from the corner of his eye and he sighs, turning to look at the older male, who's staring at him with squinty eyes.

"Sarge. Until when are you gonna stare at me like that?"

"I don't know, Peter," Mark mutters slowly, "I don't know."

"What's up with him?" Chan questions, looking up from his desk curiously.

"It's nothing, Chris," Jisung waves it off, just as Mark proceeds to answer at the same time.

"He and Kim had the _gall_ to call me while they were in the middle of—"

"_Sarge,_" he whines.

"In the middle of?" Felix jumps in as well, excited, eyes staring at Mark in anticipation as his fists seem to be unconsciously crumpling up the stack of papers he had been holding. "IN THE MIDDLE OF?"

"Oh my God," Hyunjin stands up from his own desk now, mouth agape as he looks at him in disbelief.

Jisung palms his face, defeated.

"Cherry and Peter had sex!"

Unsurprisingly, Chan, Felix and Hyunjin start screaming and hollering indecipherable words as they gather together in the middle of the office, arms slung over one another and forming a little circle as they cheer and spin around obnoxiously.

Jisung rolls his eyes and chooses to ignore them, finally settling himself at his desk.

"Sarge, where's your phone?" Felix quickly trudges towards Mark's desk, dragging the other two along. "Your calls are always recorded, right? You _have_ to let us listen to it!"

Still looking disgruntled, Mark just opens his drawer and hands them his phone wordlessly, and another chorus of loud whoops and cheers erupts within the office as they immediately huddle together, easily going through Mark's phone.

Jisung gapes at Mark incredulously. "You actually still have it? Why would you not delete it?"

"Look," Mark deadpans. "You really think I would have wanted to use my phone again after that traumatizing experience?" And Jisung clamps his mouth shut. "No, Peter. I left it here and those three are the first to use it again after that call."

Jisung focuses his attention back on the three huddled figures across his desk, watching their faces distort from one inappropriate expression to another as they hold the phone's speaker near their ears.

"Damn," they drawl out simultaneously, just as the elevator _ding's_ open and reveals none other than Kim Seungmin himself, all their heads turning to stare as the redhead makes his way past them, heading straight to his desk.

Jisung tries his best not to overthink the fact that Seungmin doesn't even glance his way.

Chan, Felix and Hyunjin share one another a look, before glancing at Seungmin again, murmuring, "He's smoking _hot._"

Jisung is unamused. "Guys."

And they immediately disperse, quickly giving Mark back his phone—who just makes a face at it and refuses to touch it—before heading back to their own desks.

"Right, right. Not a chance," Felix says as the other two nod along.

"Definitely," Chan adds, plopping himself down on his seat. "All Peter's. Cherry is all Peter's."

"Yup," Hyunjin hurries back to his desk, rummaging through his things a little before holding up his fake case file. "The wedding is still on, folks!"

Jisung drops his head down onto his desk, face first.

And, as he turns his head just a little, taking a peek at Seungmin from the other end of the office, he sees the redhead looking confused for a moment before he sighs inwardly and shakes his head—and his face is back to having its normal, stoic expression again, as if the soft, gentle Seungmin he had spent the past three days with had been just a figment of his imagination all along, and...

And maybe Jisung feels a little sad about that.

He ends up at the bar later that night, drinking by himself in self-pity.

Seungmin didn't talk to him for the rest of the day.

Granted, that was the way it had always been even before their stakeout mission, and everytime they did talk, it wouldn't really be much—_and,_ Jisung also happened to be a coward who, by that point, was already too anxious to try striking up a conversation with Seungmin anymore.

He hunches over the counter with his head in his arms and sighs sadly.

The harder he tries not to assume that Seungmin might have thought it was all a mistake, the more it feels believable and it's _killing_ him—because for the past three days, he swore everything felt so right.

So he continues to feel sorry for himself, letting his drunken mind replay the night of Chan's celebration right before his eyes, when he was in the exact same state as he is now, imagining the way Seungmin had come over to sit beside him, looking unsure and maybe even a little worried about him and—

Jisung blinks. If he remembers correctly, Seungmin didn't really look unsure or worried that night. Nor did he softly call his name and wave a hand in front of his face to catch his attention.

"Okay. This hallucination is wrong," he mumbles, knitting his brows before trying to replay the whole thing again properly.

Except, Seungmin is still there, sitting beside him with a puzzled look on his face, still calling out his name. "Peter?"

"Why aren't you petting my head yet?" he huffs out tiredly, closing his eyes instead. "Even my imagination refuses to cheer me up. How positively delightful."

"... Peter," Seungmin's voice calls out again quietly, and Jisung just groans—until he feels gentle fingers slowly sifting through his locks, caressing his head gingerly and eliciting out a content sigh from him.

Wait.

Jisung's eyes peel back open. "Oh, shit—you're real."

There's an amused glint in Seungmin's eyes before his lips curl up into a little smile, and Jisung widens his eyes at the sight, slowly sitting back up to stare at the redhead. "Or... are you? I'm too drunk to know if this is real or not anymore."

Seungmin's hand moves down from his hair to his right cheek, cupping it carefully and coaxing him closer to press a soft kiss onto his lips. "I am real."

Jisung's heart blooms back to life.

"Cherry," he breathes out, hand immediately coming up to rest against the back of Seungmin's as the feeling of relief washes over him. "I—why are you here?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," murmurs Seungmin, biting down lightly on his lip, looking hesitant. "I came here to drink because you... didn't talk to me all day."

"_What?_" his response comes out harsher than he intends it to, and when he sees Seungmin's eyes growing a little wide at that, worried, and perhaps just a little bit scared, Jisung's gaze instantly softens, arms naturally finding their way around the redhead's waist as he easily pulls him into his lap and leans up to give him a gentle, reassuring kiss, feeling the way Seungmin slowly relaxes into his embrace.

"I'm sorry," he murmurs against his lips, pressing one more peck before leaning out to properly look up into his pretty, doe eyes. "It's just that—I'm here for the same reason. I'm here because you didn't talk to me all day and I was... really sad about it. But now I'm confused."

Seungmin furrows his brows. "What? Then why didn't you talk to me?"

"Because you—" he heaves out a breath, before mumbling dejectedly as he looks away. "From the moment you came in this morning... you started feeling so far away from me again. You were finally opening up to me but then, I looked at you and it felt like I was back to square one. Like the Cherry I've been with just suddenly vanished. I thought... I don't know, maybe you started regretting everything we did."

"Peter, no," Seungmin denies right away, hands coming up to cradle Jisung's face in his palms. "I'm sorry. I don't... really know how things are supposed to be. I'm not good with emotions. I'm not good at expressing myself or opening up that easily in front of people and—" he pauses, carefully resting his forehead against Jisung's with a sigh. "I don't know, babe... It's different when it's just you."

Jisung blinks rapidly, his drunken state processing the words in his head a lot slower than usual before it really sinks in, heart fluttering as he becomes aware of Seungmin comfortably letting the pet name slip past through his lips again. "So you... Oh," he raises his brows, eventually letting out a laugh to himself and shaking his head incredulously.

_Right. This is Seungmin, for goodness' sake._

"I'm so stupid. I almost started thinking maybe you considered it a one-night stand. With feelings."

And when he hears Seungmin let out this _really_ adorable giggle for the first time, his pretty eyes crinkling unevenly, Jisung finally feels the weight fall off his shoulders, letting himself admire the Seungmin he fell in love with once more as he curls his lips up into a soft smile.

Seungmin doesn't regret anything.

"My Cherry's back," he breathes out happily, leaning in to rub his nose lovingly against the tip of Seungmin's, who flushes a little under his gaze before nuzzling back gently.

"Hey," Seungmin whispers, fingers reaching up to brush Jisung's fringe back carefully. "Come over?"

Jisung doesn't say no.

That night, when Seungmin changes into another one of his prettier nightgowns with much more lace and significantly less fabric, looking absolutely stunning as he shyly pads his way over and settles himself into Jisung's lap, Jisung doesn't think twice and dives right in.

**operation get cherry and peter hitched! (4)**

**_Felice:_** holy shit peter

**_Felice:_** i just realized you've been banging for two weeks now congratulations!!!!!!!

**_Christiano:_** dating

**_Samuel:_** for pete's sake christopher

**_Samuel:_** it's the same thing

**_Felice:_** for peter's sake

**_Samuel:_** anyway congratulations

**_Christiano:_** congratulations indeed

**_Christiano:_** now we're just waiting for the wedding

**_Felice:_** where i shall be peter's best man btw

**_Christiano:_** no he's choosing me

**_Samuel:_** keep that up and he'll choose me just so you guys stop fighting

**_Felice:_** not a chance sam

**_Christiano:_** keep dreaming

**_Samuel:_** we'll see who gets the last laugh

**_Samuel:_** wait

**_Samuel:_** peter why aren't you saying anything

**_Felice:_** did he leave the chat open and slept again

**_Christiano:_** peter are you actually already choosing among the three of us rn

**_Christiano:_** oh wait he closed the chat he's not reading anymore

**_Christiano:_** peter what—

**_Samuel:_** peter

**_Felice:_** what—

Jisung walks straight into a post by accident for the fourth time this morning, hand coming up to mindlessly rub his reddening forehead as he steps back and proceeds to drag his feet to work like nothing happened.

Impressively enough, his glasses aren't broken yet. He hadn't gotten to sleep a single wink last night no matter how hard he tried, and his eyes refused to be tortured any further by a pair of demon lenses, bringing him nothing but tears in protest everytime he tried to put them on, until he finally gave up.

He lowers his head and pockets his hands sullenly, no longer fighting back the thoughts persisting to consume his mind for the tenth hour straight now.

Jisung doesn't know if they're dating.

He really, really doesn't. For one thing, they've never even gone out on an actual _date._ He doesn't think it's the same thing and it took two weeks and an unintentional wake up call from his friends to make him realize that things aren't even exactly clear between him and Seungmin yet. At this point, he's starting to seriously question how, on God's green Earth, had he become a detective at all.

And he can't let it go. He genuinely likes Seungmin—sex or no sex—and he won't be able to stand not knowing what their label really is because he's positive that he wants them to be boyfriends. He wants to _believe_ they're boyfriends.

Has Seungmin ever called him his boyfriend? Does _'babe'_ actually count anymore?

Jisung takes a deep breath and rethinks. Maybe it's the same as last time. Maybe Seungmin had already been thinking that everything was just fine; there's nothing wrong at all, and maybe Jisung's simply overthinking things again instead of considering the fact that Seungmin still isn't as great at feelings and expressing himself as he might want to be.

He just needs to ask again, Seungmin will clear things up, everything will be okay and Jisung will take him out on a proper date. That's all he has to do.

They can work things out.

Stepping into the elevator and pressing on his floor number, he nods to himself, eyes mindlessly looking down at the carpeted floor as he waits.

His head perks up, though, once he notices a figure from outside, rushing into the elevator just before the doors close, and his lips easily curve up by themselves into a smile when he sees Seungmin frowning beside him, still busy fussing with his hair to notice him. "Morning, Cherry."

Seungmin pauses, turning to face him before his frown melts into a softer gaze, gentle fingers reaching over to gingerly push Jisung's glasses back up from where it had been slipping down the bridge of his nose. "Did you not have a pillow to hug?"

Jisung's smile grows wider and softer.

That was enough to wash much of his worries away, and as he mentally decides he'll talk to Seungmin about everything later tonight, he doesn't feel as scared anymore.

"Baby, do you really have to go?" Jisung asks as he leans against the frame of his front door, watching Seungmin struggling a little to put on his boots.

"I haven't done laundry for days," Seungmin replies, flustered as he briefly looks away when Jisung grins softly and crouches down in front of him, carefully tying up his laces for him instead. "I won't have anything to wear to work."

"You could always just borrow some of my clothes," Jisung pouts a little as he finishes helping the redhead with his boots, standing back up properly. "I'm sure they fit you just fine."

Seungmin stares at him impassively. "Yours have too much colour. Everyone's going to think the world is ending."

Jisung snorts, amused. "It's not like they don't already know that we're dating, Cherry."

At that, Seungmin looks somewhat taken aback, and Jisung widens his eyes a little in realization, not having intended to let that slip out. This wasn't how he was supposed to bring it up; he had decided to talk about it tomorrow instead when Seungmin said he needed to go home for the night.

But the look on Seungmin's face scares him, and he doesn't think he wants to leave things hanging like this until tomorrow.

"We... we _are_ dating," he starts quietly, peering up at the redhead hopefully, "aren't we?"

"Peter," murmurs Seungmin, looking a little unsure, awkward, and... sorry.

_Oh,_ Jisung stills.

They're not dating.

"Peter, I like you, I really do, it's just... being your boyfriend is a completely different thing than what we are now, and—"

"Then why don't you?" he asks, desperate. "Why don't you become my boyfriend?"

"Peter, we're so different," Seungmin bites down on his lip, looking down at the ground. "You're just so bright and kind and... you wear your heart on your sleeve. I—" he pauses, letting out a humorless laugh. "I'm violent and selfish and _mean._ I'll end up hurting you. I... I really don't want that..."

Jisung fists his hands into his shirt. He can work with different. He can handle getting hurt every now and then—it's part of having a relationship and he knows it's nothing they can't eventually fix together. _He can risk it all._

"Cherry, we've been doing just fine, haven't we? We won't know unless we _try—_"

"You know it never works out," Seungmin interrupts softly, pressing his lips together before lowering his head. "Peter... cops can't date."

Jisung's heart drops and shatters into a million pieces.

Seungmin never meant for this to go anywhere from the beginning. He wasn't going to risk it for him.

It was just Jisung hopelessly holding onto this all along.

"... Cops can't date," his voice cracks as he quietly repeats the words to himself with a broken smile, gulping down the forming lump in his throat.

_Seungmin doesn't want this. _"Right. I guess it's just... for a while there, you made me start believing it wasn't true."

And he must have looked real pitiful, because Seungmin's face had never looked so _crestfallen_ before. "Peter, I'm really sorry..."

"It's fine, Cherry," he whispers, tearing his gaze away as his eyes start to sting with fresh tears before turning around to walk back into his apartment, bottom lip quivering unstoppably. "I probably wouldn't have wanted to risk everything for me either."

The following week goes by without the two of them talking unless they need it for work.

Chan, Felix and Hyunjin had stopped teasing him and bringing up Seungmin around him altogether, genuinely sad and sorry for him, especially after they once tried to surprise him with a visit to his apartment—snacks, beer and all, breaking in unannounced using Felix's spare key—and were met with the sight of him all alone under the staircase, crying his heart out on the floor.

Anyone with half an eye could see how much it affected things inside the office. Chan and Felix can't seem to act as comfortable as they used to be around Seungmin anymore everytime they got assigned to work cases together. And though Seungmin had always been closer to Brian and Jae than the three of them even before, Jisung feels awful everytime he sees how they're clearly divided into two whole groups now.

_This is why cops can't date,_ he tells himself everyday, over and over, as he works himself to the bone as a way to distract himself.

And like a blessing from the heavens (or, maybe it's actually just Captain Wang's subtle way of helping him cope with his heartbreak), he gets assigned a gnarly ass case that obliges him to go undercover for the next couple of weeks, pretending to be someone he's not—which, he thinks, is perfect. He doesn't have to go back to his apartment for a while, which reminds him _so much_ of Seungmin; and, he doesn't have to go to the office either and have to see the redhead sitting just three desks away from him, but still feeling much farther away than ever.

Even if it's just for a little while, he can pretend he's not everything Seungmin said he is and wonder to himself in the dead of night, if things would have turned out differently if he just wasn't the way he is.

Except right when he's finally all ready to bust his perp on his third week of non-stop duty, he instead receives an order from the Captain for him to retreat immediately.

So as soon as he sees the man calmly waiting for him at their parking garage that afternoon, he frowns as he gets off his bike and takes off his helmet, quickly approaching him with big strides. "Sir, I don't understand. I finally had Ferell right where I wanted him to be—"

"Troy Ferell isn't his real name," Captain Wang interrupts, "The FBI found out you were working this case and called me to tell you you can't bring him in just yet. There's something much bigger behind this, Detective Han. His real name is Andrew Larsen."

Jisung widens his eyes, and the older man nods, confirming his assumptions. "Larsen crime family. The FBI urgently needs you to continue working undercover with them so you can bring in the bigger fish together."

"Wait," he gapes. "Does... Does this mean..." he trails off, blinking even more as he processes it all in his head, his mind short circuiting.

"You'll be leaving the precinct indefinitely."

The digital clock's alarm going off shakes Jisung out of his sleep, and he looks around dazed, as if he hasn’t been following the same routine for months now.

Reaching an arm out to the nightstand, he drops a heavy hand atop the clock to turn it off, letting out a small yawn before turning to lie on his back and rubbing at his eyes.

_Maybe today's the day,_ he thinks as he stares aimlessly up at the ceiling, even though it really just becomes less and less believable, considering it's officially the second hundredth morning he's told himself that.

He's been scribbling down the days in a notebook; a bad habit of his that makes him feel more and more imprisoned each day but couldn't really stop doing in the end, ever since he got sent to an actual prison three months ago for work. Granted, he was in protective custody the whole time and it was for an investigation, but he still lived like a real prisoner for two months. To say he wasn't scarred for life would be a lie.

He turns his head to the side, staring at the lone picture frame perching up on his nightstand with a miniscule quirk of his lips, eyes gazing over the cheerful faces of Brian, Chan, Felix, Hyunjin, Jae and himself; the awkward peace signs Captain Wang and Mark had been holding up; and... Seungmin.

His gaze lingers a little longer on the redhead as it always does.

_You'll be leaving the precinct indefinitely,_ echoes in his head.

From the moment he stepped foot into the bureau, he regretted having wished for a way to forget about his heartbreak right away.

And he regrets it very deeply. He doesn't have a clue when he can come back, and he dreads the possibility of staying in this city he's come to hate more than any place in the world for the next ten years of his life. He's heard stories about other detectives who had to work undercover for over a decade, and when it was all over, they kept forgetting who they really were.

And he's terrified of losing himself. He barely gets the chance to feel like himself anymore when he's not even allowed to at least receive letters from his friends—no matter how much he promises the bureau that he'll burn the letters right after reading them—because _'it's too risky.'_ The last thing keeping him grounded is that single photograph Captain Wang had secretly given him before he officially left with the FBI.

Most days, he wonders if he wouldn't have been in this predicament, had he only learned to embrace his heartbreak instead of escaping it.

With a heave, he hoists himself up and plants his feet onto the floor, giving himself a lifeless pat on the shoulder before standing up.

"Alright, Joseph. It's go time."

(That day wasn't the day.)

Jisung can still remember the night before he left the precinct as clear as day.

How he asked the Captain not to tell anyone, because he knew if they found out, they'd joke about not missing him, and he'd know they're just being idiots and he would end up wanting to stay. How he didn't show up at the office anymore after Captain Wang broke the news to him, because he knew that if he did, he'd start thinking that might be the last time he'll have ever seen them.

And how, despite all that, he ended up still asking the Captain if he could work one last case with Seungmin before he left.

Seungmin wasn't aware of the set up until he got to the car they were going to use for the stakeout, where Jisung had already been seated at the driver's side, giving him a tiny, apologetic smile through the window.

The drive to their location had been silent, up until they were already on their second hour of stakeout duty, where Jisung finally mustered up the courage to speak up.

"I'm going to work for the FBI starting tomorrow. I don't know when I'll be back. And I don't know what'll happen to me out there."

He remembers the look of utter shock on Seungmin's face and how his mouth fell open, albeit speechless.

"The perp I've been trying to catch for the past month was actually a Larsen," he continued, as if he didn't just practically say _'I might die out there.'_ "I just... wanted to tell you that myself before I go."

He remembers the sound of Seungmin's shaky breath, how he brought the binoculars up to his eyes, and how he croaked out a small, trembling _'no'_ when Jisung asked if he was seeing movement inside the building.

Jisung didn't have his binoculars with him then.

It's only when he was already back at his place at midnight, messily packing his suitcase, did he finally let his tears fall.

Today marks the seventh month since he last saw Seungmin.

_"Hey Joseph,"_ he hears Bambam's hushed voice upon answering his phone, simply letting out a noise of acknowledgement as a cue for the other male to continue. _"Heads up. We're heading to your place."_

He hangs up with a heavy heart, eyes glassy as he longingly stares at the picture frame on his nightstand for the very last time, hand slowly reaching into his pocket and grasping tightly at his lighter.

Exactly a month later, on the day he's finally lost all hope and doesn't tell himself today could be the day anymore, is when things suddenly start to look up for them—faster than he could have ever wished for.

The life in his eyes slowly returns with each passing hour they spend waiting for just the right moment, his heart starts _feeling_ again, and, more than anything, he feels like Han Jisung again.

By night time, they finally, _finally_ bring in the entirety of the Larsen crime family.

As he stands by himself watching the scene unfold right in front of him, somewhere along the crowd of criminals, officers and police cars, he belatedly realizes the way he's chuckling quietly to himself at the thought of Chan and Felix possibly being envious of him once they find out how epic the bust had been, and he finds himself pausing, before throwing his head back with a wide grin as he closes his eyes.

For the first time in a long while, he finally lets himself breathe.

"Wow, Joseph," Bambam's voice pulls him out of his reverie, catching his attention as he automatically says _'it's Peter.'_ "I don't think I ever saw you smile like that since you started working for us."

"Well, I did get stripped away from my family for more than half a year," Jisung shrugs, pocketing his hands with a smile as he looks off to the side. "And the love of my life."

"What? I thought you said you weren't dating anyone."

"I'm not," he answers quite easily, surprising even himself, glancing back up at Bambam. "It was pretty tragic, really. Probably more tragic than prison," he continues, and for a moment there, as he realizes how casually he's saying everything, he briefly wonders if he's actually gotten over it now.

Bambam grimaces. "Sorry you had to go through all that, man. Suppose you'll be declining Chief Horvejkul's offer for you to work permanently with the FBI then, huh?"

"Yeah," he says, wearing the biggest smile on his face.

Jisung doesn't get to go back right away, which he really should have expected, but as he takes care of all his remaining work with the bureau, he finally stops counting the days and wakes up with a smile the way he always used to.

The contact ban is lifted and he's given his old phone back, but as he takes it and feels nostalgia washing over him immediately, he decides not to turn it back on just yet, not wanting to be distracted from doing his work properly by being too excited to come back if he talks to everyone again.

While working in the FBI is a great opportunity, he finds that he doesn't change his mind once about going back home—not even for a second, no matter how many times Bambam and Chief Horvejkul ask him to reconsider, to which he always declines with an apology and a smile.

On his last day, Bambam tells him he's already told Captain Wang about his return, having planned a surprise party for it days ago without his permission. (_"It's a reverse surprise party and it's going to be awesome!"_ Bambam exclaimed.) And though he had originally planned to simply show up to work when he comes back, he realizes he doesn't mind the idea either, too happy to care at this point.

All that matters is that he's finally coming home, back to his family.

_Back to Seungmin,_ a voice in his head helpfully supplies, and he quickly pushes the thought back to the very back of his mind, because he swears he's over it.

"Alright," Bambam turns to him from where he was peering over the wall by the entrance, where Jisung had been hiding. "Looks like the Captain got to gather them all here. You ready?"

Jisung takes a deep breath and nods, rocking back and forth on his heels giddily. "Never been readier."

With that, Bambam's walking into the bar and announcing his presence obnoxiously to everyone, saying, "Hello! It is I, Bambam of the FBI, here to inform you that Joseph Hwang is in love with me!"

"And he said the wrong name again," Jisung mutters to himself with an amused shake of his head, stifling down a snicker when he hears Hyunjin's voice from afar, saying, "Ex_cuse_ me?"

With a pounding heart and a happy grin, he finally makes his way inside and stands beside Bambam, holding back a laugh when he sees the familiar faces of his loved ones, their expressions distorting into something similar to those having seen a ghost.

"Ah, right!" Bambam laughs, throwing an arm around his shoulders. "I meant to say Peter Han!"

It turns quiet for a moment, all eyes staring at him owlishly—and with an amused chuckle, he wonders if this would have been their same reaction if he simply showed up to work on Monday.

"Sorry, Sam," he starts, throwing Hyunjin a grin, not really apologetic. "Dumb detective, remember? Couldn't come up with a more unique name. But hey, at least it's not your registered name!"

Hyunjin gasps and brings a hand up to cover his gaping mouth, and then, almost instantly, he's angrily striding his way towards Jisung, fists clenched at his sides. "Why you little...!"

Jisung widens his eyes and staggers back, hands held up in front of him in some poor attempt to shield himself, while Bambam betrays him by simply stepping aside. "C—Come on, I swear it's really not a big deal—"

He stops short, however, because he can see Hyunjin's eyes brimming with tears with each step forward, and soon, he gets tackled into a tight hug, sending him stumbling back in surprise.

"Han Jisung, you fucking _idiot!_"

In a heartbeat, he sees everyone else immediately getting up from their seats and following suit, piling up on him in this chaotic mess of a group hug and either yelling at him or crying loudly, slowly bringing a fond smile to his face as he succumbs into their hold and tries his best to hug back with what his two little arms can manage.

Mark is scolding him for not telling them about anything, albeit teary-eyed. Brian and Jae are yelling at him and pretending to be upset about having to do his huge pile of unfinished paperwork when he left. Chan, Felix and Hyunjin are sobbing like children, as they complain about him not replying to any of their messages even after they heard that his mission was over.

In the midst of it all, although he expected it, he becomes just a little saddened that Seungmin wasn't there hugging him like everybody else.

He takes a look around the bar, flashes Captain Wang a grateful smile where the man's seated by a table grinning at him, and looks around a bit more.

In a corner, he catches sight of a familiar mop of red hair, his back turned, briskly walking away from the scene.

_Oh,_ his heart plummets.

In the end, nine months of loneliness still can't seem to compare to the pain of knowing he can't come home, back to Seungmin.

He's not over it.

Later, as Felix is in the middle of a story that he now realizes he hasn't really been listening to, he finds himself caving in.

"Where's Cherry?"

Felix abruptly stops mid-sentence, sharing looks between Chan and Hyunjin before asking, "We're allowed to talk about him?"

Jisung blinks. "Guys. When did I ever tell you you weren't allowed to talk about Cherry with me?"

"Oh, thank goodness," Chan heaves out a relieved sigh as he brings up his phone from beneath the table, where he presumably had been hiding it the whole time, and proceeds to tap on the screen quickly. "I've been messaging him but he's not replying. He came here with all of us but I don't know where he is now."

"Christopher, you've been messaging our group chat with Cherry. You're not messaging _him,_" Hyunjin rolls his eyes. "My phone's been vibrating in my pants non-stop."

Jisung raises his brows silently. If he didn't know any better, he'd say they were much closer friends with Seungmin now. (Which, he thinks, shouldn't really be a surprise to him since he did disappear for quite a long time to miss out on a lot, but it still is.)

"I don't understand," Felix frowns. "Do you think he figured out a case and left? That's literally the only reason he would leave at a time like this."

Jisung snorts softly, a little sad. "_I_ showed up at a time like this. That should be enough of a reason."

The three of them pause suddenly, glancing up at him and then at one another, with a look that Jisung can't quite understand.

"Peter," Hyunjin starts, "it's not like that. Cherry wouldn't leave because of you, he—"

Jisung holds up a hand to halt him, pressing his lips together before giving them a tight-lipped smile. "No need to make me feel better, Sam. I'm fine." _He isn't._

"Peter, listen," Felix speaks up next, but Jisung doesn't let him continue as he stands up.

"I'm going to the restroom," he mumbles, leaving their table and quickly heading towards the back where he remembers the restroom should still be, considering the bar looks exactly the same as it did when he left. Dusty and rickety.

He walks inside quietly with a silent sigh, running a hand down his face.

He just wants to move on. He really thought he already _had_—but as he thinks back, he must have simply started thinking less about Seungmin ever since he needed to burn the picture, because he had one less thing to remind him of the redhead. And when he got to talk about his tragic love story with Seungmin with Bambam without feeling anything, he still wasn't completely being Han Jisung.

He was still Joseph from New York.

But now he's here again, in Los Angeles, and he's himself again. He doesn't even need to see Seungmin's face and he's already _crumbling_ when he should be celebrating with everyone.

"This is so stupid," he whispers to himself, turning to the wall and raising a foot up to kick it out of frustration—but then he misses, suddenly losing his footing when he gets caught by surprise at the sound of someone sniffling and hiccupping.

Jisung stills. Someone's crying in one of the stalls.

Wait.

_Seungmin,_ he widens his eyes. Seungmin couldn't have possibly left the bar without walking past them first—there's only one way in and out of this place and he could have sworn he saw him heading towards the back.

Heading _here._

Slowly, he starts to walk, following the sound of quiet sniffles until he stops in front of a door, closed, but unlocked—reminding Jisung of how this never was the tidiest of places and apparently never bothered enough to fix any of the door locks.

"Cherry?" he calls out softly, and he can tell Seungmin's holding his breath now, stopping himself from making any noises. "Cherry, I know you're there."

He waits, like he always does. Then he smiles a little sadly when he realizes he won't get a response. "Was it too delightful in there and... you needed a breather?"

"... Yes," he finally hears Seungmin croak out, his voice shaky.

Jisung feels his heart ache, bringing a hand up to his chest as he presses his lips together and forces out a chuckle. "That's one long breather."

"Shut—_hic_—up."

"Cherry," he breathes out, biting down on his lip and gripping tightly at the hem of his shirt. "... Baby, why are you crying?"

A pause. "G—go away, Peter," Seungmin's voice trembles, and from the space between the floor and the door, Jisung can see the way he moves his feet up, presumably to hug his knees to his chest.

"I _have_ been away," he murmurs, shifting his gaze down. "I've been away for almost nine months and... I missed you."

Again, Jisung waits. And it feels like that's all he's been doing for such a long time now that he wants to _cry._

After what feels like ages, he lowers his head with a shaky sigh and turns to walk away.

"You... did?" he hears Seungmin asking in the smallest of voices and he stops, turning back around to stare at the door with big eyes.

Something in the way his heart flutters at that makes him take a step closer, hand slowly reaching up to carefully push the door open, breath catching in his throat as he finally sees Seungmin again after so _long._

His knees are folded up to his chest and his hands are messily dabbing away at his tear-streaked cheeks, eyeliner long since smudged—and he looks so vulnerable and small and Jisung still finds it all so _beautiful._

He takes a step forward. "Cherry—"

"Come closer and I'll punch you," Seungmin snaps, voice still unsteady as he continues to hiccup, and though that makes it sound significantly less like a threat, Jisung obeys.

"Baby, I... I did miss you, you know?" he curls his lips up into a small smile, biting the inside of his cheek before he whispers, "I still do."

Seungmin looks up at him, eyes quickly filling with a fresh set of tears and pouring down his cheeks as he chokes out, "I miss you too. I miss you too and I fucking _hate it—_" he ends up whimpering, fists coming up to cover his eyes as he sobs quietly. "I spent nine months wishing you'd be back but now I know nothing's going to happen anymore and it _sucks._"

Jisung blinks owlishly, mouth opening and closing speechlessly as he tries to register things in his head.

_'Nothing's going to happen anymore'?_

"So don't call me like that," Seungmin murmurs in a small, broken voice, curling up into himself and burying his face in his knees. "Don't tell me you miss me if I can't hold your hand anymore."

For a while, Jisung just stands there dumbly, blinking and wracking through his brain for his detective skills back to try and comprehend the situation.

Seungmin thinks nothing's going to happen between them anymore. Had he started dating someone else while Jisung was away? No—Seungmin's the one who believes cops can't date... unless he changed his mind.

it shouldn't be impossible, given how long he was gone.

Oh.

He comes back after nine months and Seungmin already has someone else? Jisung almost wants to laugh, until he stops.

_He comes back after nine months and he already has someone else._

Jisung inhales sharply.

No. It was Bambam. Seungmin believed _Bambam. _Jesus Christ.

"Cherry, I'm so sorry, I—I'm not—" he struggles, still too overwhelmed to construct his sentence properly. "Please, don't misunderstand. I'm not dating Bambam, oh my God—he was just being an idiot and I—" he continues to stammer, flustered and a little panicked, feeling so, _so_ stupid.

Why didn't he deny what Bambam said in the first place? What was he thinking? "Cherry, I'm sorry, please, you have to believe me."

Slowly, Seungmin starts to uncurl himself, big, teary eyes staring up at him as he quietly asks, hopeful, "You're not...?"

"I swear, I'm not," he shakes his head rapidly, pushing the thought out of his head. "God, I'd never. Bambam's just a friend. He doesn't even say my name right! He's gotten so used to that name I—..." he trails off as he sees Seungmin getting up on his feet, tears rolling down his cheeks as he all but _runs_ into his arms, very nearly tackling him down with the tightest hug.

Jisung sputters as he stumbles back and regains his balance, eyes wide and blinking for a few times before his gaze softens, arms wrapping back around Seungmin's waist protectively.

"Peter," Seungmin whimpers, crying softly onto his shoulder and fisting his hands into the back of Jisung's shirt. "I'm s—sorry I let you go. I'm sorry for being a coward... Please give me another chance, please don't—" he hiccups, before he chokes out, "Don't move on from me yet. Please..."

Slowly, Jisung's lips curl up into a soft smile, hand moving up to gingerly caress the back of Seungmin's head in a soothing manner as he lightly sways the redhead side to side. "You have nothing to worry about, my love."

He hears Seungmin's breath hitch, and soon, he's carefully leaning out from Jisung's shoulder to look into his eyes with his own beady ones, still letting out tiny little hiccups, and the cute sight makes Jisung smile wider, pulling the redhead even closer. "I don't think I can ever move on from you even if I tried."

In a second, Seungmin starts crying wholeheartedly again and Jisung ends up grinning fondly at him the whole time, constantly wiping his tears away and giving him soft, comforting kisses, whispering sweet nothings into his ear and holding him tight.

It's that moment when he realizes they both needed to come home—back to each other.

(Later, when they head back to the table together and all Seungmin does is curl up against Jisung's side and promptly fall asleep on his shoulder, having worn his eyes out from crying too much, no one asks him anything. The relieved smiles on their faces is enough for him to understand.)

When Jisung wakes up the next morning, he wakes up to the sight of Seungmin's face just a mere centimeter away from his, eyes already open—and he's probably been awake for a while now, staring at Jisung's face openly.

He flutters his eyes back closed, still sleepy, blindly moving his face closer until he feels what he assumes to be Seungmin's nose nudging onto the tip of his before quirking his lips up into a little smile.

"Peter, you changed my clothes without my permission."

Ah. That, he did. Seungmin still had some of his nightgowns here at his apartment and Jisung didn't want him sleeping in his work clothes, nor did he want to wake the redhead up just to make him change. He simply hums in response.

"You changed my underwear too."

Ah. Now that he mentioned it, Jisung kind of remembers doing that too. He was probably too drunk to think straight, but he recalls how pretty Seungmin looked like in his black, see-through nightgown and his also black, laced underwear that he often wore back then because he knew how much Jisung liked it, and—

Jisung peels his eyes back open in realization and shamelessly stares Seungmin down. "Oh. _Damn._ I'd sure love to do you right about now."

"You just woke up," Seungmin rolls his eyes, amused, reaching up and carefully locking his hands around Jisung's neck anyway before folding a leg up against his side, hooking it along his hip. "You have an hour before I have to get ready for work."

Jisung whistles lowly, pulling the redhead flush against his chest and caressing his thigh before trailing his hand up under the nightgown to settle on Seungmin's bum, rubbing gentle circles on it through the thin fabric of his underwear with a cheeky grin. "Well, good morning to me."

Seungmin giggles and shakes his head at him, wearing the most gorgeous smile, and Jisung falls in love just a little bit more.

"Do you really have to go?" Jisung mumbles sleepily and stifles a yawn behind his hand, and purely by instinct, he crouches down in front of Seungmin and automatically helps him with his boots. "Can't you just call in sick?"

He thinks the redhead must still be sleepy too from the lack of response, but later, when he finishes tying the laces and stands back up, he's surprised to see Seungmin staring at him with beady, sad eyes.

_Oh,_ Jisung stills, a certain memory suddenly flashing right before his eyes.

It's just like last time, when they were here at his front porch.

It's been ten months since then.

He watches Seungmin opening his mouth and closing it, hesitant, but Jisung doesn't have to wait because he understands. Seungmin must have been thinking of the same thing too.

With a smile, he reaches up and caresses Seungmin's cheek lovingly, asking, "Do you want me to walk you there?"

Seungmin pauses, and then the tips of his ears turn red as he looks down with a shy little nod.

"Okay," Jisung grins and plants a soft peck onto his forehead before turning around to head back into his apartment. "Wait here."

He trudges his way up the staircase in record time and grabs a random coat from his closet, not bothering to change his pajama pants anymore as he quickly wears the coat on his way back out of his bedroom and down the stairs. Reaching the shoe rack by the entrance, he grabs the first pair he gets his hands on and wears them hastily before taking his keys from where it had been hung up on the wall, and he's finally stepping back outside and locking the door. "Alright, let's go."

As he turns around, though, Seungmin is already striding his way towards him—and he's caught offguard when suddenly, he's being enveloped into a tight hug.

He blinks for a few times, surprised, but he doesn't get to say anything before Seungmin softly murmurs, "Jisung."

He widens his eyes, and his heart starts fluttering violently, nearly flying right out of his chest, arms carefully wrapping back around the redhead's waist to hold him closer. "Yes?"

Seungmin trembles a little in his arms when he speaks up. "Jisung, I love you."

He swears he feels the world stop right then and there, much like his breath.

_Jisung. I love you._

Almost instantly, his pessimism makes him start questioning himself if he's not actually already back in Los Angeles right now—that this is all just a long, cruel dream for him to wake up from and be depressed about—and he tries pinching himself on the cheek, because he'd much rather wake up to the nightmare he's been living in for the past year in New York than let this dream continue, because it's nothing more than a dream.

The pinch doesn't hurt as much as he wants it to. So he continues to dread when the dream will end—

Until Seungmin pulls back and stomps on his foot.

"_Ow, _fuck—" he hisses, staggering back a bit from the pain, before pausing in realization and standing back upright with big eyes, seeing the way Seungmin's glowering down at him.

"At least say it back, you asshole."

_Oh_,_ _he gasps, mouth falling agape. His left foot is aching and it hurts like a bitch and he's _not_ dreaming.

This... this is _real_.

Before he knows it, he's tackling Seungmin into another tight hug, too overwhelmingly _happy_ at this point to stop himself from yelling too loudly anymore, driving all the birds away from the trees with his sudden outburst.

"I love you too! Holy shit! Seungmin, I love you too!"

And that's what he keeps screaming until Seungmin ends up flusteredly telling him to shut up, the red on his cheeks getting darker and darker with each time Jisung calls him _'Seungmin,'_ and he's trying to bite back a tiny and bashful smile that Jisung spots anyway.

It isn't like ten months ago.

Because today, the sun is up, Jisung walks Seungmin to work for the first time, and though everyone at the office actually starts thinking the world is about to end once they arrive, he can still clearly remember the way Seungmin had shyly pulled out Jisung's baby blue dress shirt from the closet this morning, quietly asking Jisung to help him get dressed.

Monday, as it turns out, happens to be Seungmin's day off. (He's suddenly a lot more grateful that he decided to go with Bambam's plan instead of his.)

With that, Monday also seemed to be the day Chan, Felix and Hyunjin feel the most liberated to talk about anything and everything they know about Seungmin's life during the whole duration Jisung wasn't around, as they have been doing so all day. (If he didn't know any better, he'd think the three of them were all into his boyfriend.)

Jisung grins. _Boyfriend._

Seungmin had made it perfectly clear to him yesterday, out of nowhere, saying he's worried that Jisung might start thinking too much again if he doesn't say it outright—and Jisung admits that it's true, because he's having a hard time getting rid of his pessimism ever since New York and he can tell it'll take a long while.

It's okay, though, because he knows Seungmin will always be there to wipe his worries away now.

"... and Cherry _loves_ checking out new weapons, but he still wasn't moving or saying anything!" Chan exclaims, hands moving on about as he proceeds with his story. "And then when Felix went up to him to ask what's the matter with him, he deadass started _crying_! Peter, he cried! Can you believe that?"

"Cherry literally cried his eyes out in front of Peter when he came back, Christopher," Hyunjin points out, which Chan ignores.

"And you should have seen the way he cried," he continues, furrowing his brows thoughtfully. "Like. The way he cried was so... quiet. Just tears silently rolling down his cheeks. It was _majestic._ And Felix didn't know what to do, he was just awkwardly petting Cherry's head and it was hilarious—"

"We weren't that close yet, okay," Felix whines from his desk, frowning at them. "Cherry's not harmless just because he's crying, you know! He may have started looking like this cute, sad puppy, but I still couldn't just risk my life, go ahead and cuddle him—he could've murdered me!"

"But can you believe that?" Hyunjin butts in this time, big eyes blinking at Jisung. "Cherry? _The_ Cherry, capable of looking like a puppy?"

Jisung holds back a laugh, shaking his head as he continues doing his paperwork. "That's how he looks like without make up."

He hears the three of them gasp and it makes him look up, before they simultaneously say, "You've seen him _bare!_" just as the elevator _ding's_ and opens, revealing Seungmin, coming to pick him up from work.

Jisung briefly closes his eyes and presses his lips together before giving them a deadpan look. "Yes. I have."

And Seungmin starts to step inside and makes his way over to him, but they aren't finished with their story still.

"But the point is," Felix says as he slides his chair towards his desk, grinning up at Seungmin as the latter arrives there as well. "Cherry was crying because he didn't know when you were gonna come back."

Jisung widens his eyes a little in surprise, glancing up at the redhead, who's in the middle of shooting an ice cold glare at an unfazed Felix now—with a small hint of a blush dusting his pretty cheeks.

His gaze softens, lips curling up into an endeared smile as he imagines just how much Seungmin must have missed him, if it's come to the point of him crying in front of everyone else.

He assumes that must have been around the time Seungmin started getting closer to them too. He mentally coos.

"I'm almost done," he turns back to his paperwork and finishes the last bit, smile widening as he hears Seungmin starting to bicker with Chan, Felix and Hyunjin.

To his amusement, even after he goes to and from the locker room to gather his things, Seungmin's still too occupied with the other three to notice he's all ready to leave, so he watches from the side with a fond smile, chuckling at their childishness.

Their all-too familiar case file folders are in their hands again, and Seungmin looks baffled as they all simultaneously explain _'The Case of Cherry and Peter'_ to him, telling him it's back on track now and, suggesting that if they got to have sex before dating, they could also just go ahead and get married before dating too. A pen flies across the office and hits Felix on the forehead for that, courtesy of Jae.

"Peter," he hears Brian quietly call from behind him and he turns around, seeing the man smiling at him from his own desk. "This goes without saying, but you better take good care of him, okay."

He nods earnestly. "Of course—"

"Or you best believe I'm going to throw you into the river inside a locked vault," Jae immediately adds from the desk beside Brian's, eyes narrowing at him threateningly, before he suddenly changes his expression in a blink of an eye with a gentle smile the moment he sees Seungmin approaching them and standing beside Jisung.

Jisung snorts in amusement at that and wraps an arm around Seungmin's waist, watching him be gently patted on the head by Brian and do this much too long, best friends handshake with Jae. (He finds it all really adorable.)

They soon make their way towards the elevator and step inside together, and as he turns around and sees everyone—including Captain Wang and Mark—watching the both of them with soft grins on their faces, he holds his breath and feels his eyes stinging a little, unable to stop himself from feeling the warmth washing over him as the elevator doors slowly shut close.

_Well,_ Jisung smiles softly to himself, eyeing their reflection in front of them, seeing the way Seungmin carefully curls his fingers into the hem of his shirt and moves just a little closer to Jisung's side, looking down and trying to hide the shy smile tugging up the corners of his lips.

It took a whole year.

But he's proud to say they're finally going on their first date tonight.

**Author's Note:**

> **  
[tiny bonus scene](https://2minqueen.tumblr.com/post/187714982753/september-1st-brian-opening-his-wallet-and)  
**
> 
> [200617] i edited a **[moodboard](https://twitter.com/seungjin_chan/status/1272955728567734273?s=19)**! ♡
> 
> Trivia: Jisung's name in their group chat is actually _'Pedro.'_
> 
> if you liked it, please consider leaving me a feedback! i really found myself liking this one a lot, so it would be nice to know if someone else does too ㅠ <strike>also, seungsung is underrated. seungsung nation make some noise!!</strike>  
(on a side note, as i was writing this i realized that my three jyp biases are all here and they're all in the english line and they're all september line like. for a while there i got mindblown over my own fic like an idiot hahahahdgd markjaeseung ftw!! ♡) 
> 
> [tumblr](https://seungjin-chan.tumblr.com/ask) | [twitter](https://www.twitter.com/seungjin_chan) | [curiouscat](https://www.curiouscat.me/seungjin_chan)


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